Viral Video of Tsunami in Japan Falsely Shared as Floods in China

The video was also shared by social media users as ‘nature’s revenge on China for spreading the coronavirus.’

A viral video of cars being washed away by a huge wave of water is being shared as the recent floods in China.

Unusually heavy rainfall in China caused a series of devastating floods in the central and southwestern regions. Experts fear that the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river is near capacity and could burst, causing further damage.

However, the video is actually from the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011.

CLAIM

Several users shared the viral video as the recent floods in China.

The video shared by a Facebook page, Hingminashi Eikhoi, had gathered over 15,700 views at the time of writing this article.

One user also shared the video on Twitter, gathering over 28,200 views.

Users also shared the video with the claim,

"चीन ने वायरस भेजकर दुनिया को धोखा दिया अब ऊपर वाला उसे धोखा दे रहा है"

(Translation: "China betrayed the world by spreading the virus, now God is betraying it.")

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The video is actually from the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, causing mass destruction.

A reverse image search of the keyframes of the video led us to a Facebook page, 'dadarprabhadevi.in' that had uploaded the video in 2016 with the caption, "Horrifying flood video of Japan Tsunami."

The video has garnered over 1.2 million views and 3,000 likes since then.

A keyword search of 'Japan Tsunami' on YouTube led us to a video titled, "2011 Japan Tsunami: Ishinomaki [stabilized with Deshaker]" by user, 'John9612.'

The user had also linked the original source of the video as another user, 'Takuro Suzuki,' who had uploaded the video on 18 December 2011, with the title, "Ishinomaki Tsunami Tsunami Japan 3.11/2011."

Another keyword search with the exact location of the flooding, led us to Japan's news site, FNN's YouTube channel, FNN311, dedicated to the tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March 2011.

According to the description of the video, it was shot by one Koichi Abe of Ishinomaki Gas Inc, from the rooftop of his office.

We also found the exact location on Google maps. The three blue gas towers visible in the video can be seen in the satellite images of the location as well.

Evidently, a video of the tsunami that struck Japan in 2011 after an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude at the coast of the Tōhoku region, is being falsely shared as recent floods in China.

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