A video shows a magnitude 7 earthquake hitting California.
This isn’t correct. The clip was actually filmed in Taipei, Taiwan, and shows the shocks from a 7.4 magnitude earthquake which hit the eastern shore of the island on 3 April 2024.
A video being shared on social media doesn’t show a recent earthquake in California, as is being claimed online.
In the clip—which is filmed from inside a high-rise building looking across a city—the building can be seen to be swaying from side to side as furniture moves and falls over.
It has been shared [warning: strong language] on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) with the caption: “The striking moments of the 7-magnitude earthquake that occurred in the US state of California were captured on camera! The strength of the earthquake once again reveals how impressive nature can be.”
But the video isn’t related to the recent earthquake in California. It actually shows shockwaves from a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan in April this year.
The video was originally uploaded to TikTok and Instagram on 6 April with the caption: “Taipei Earthquake 2024”.
The caption continued: “This was one of the scariest few minutes of my life. I was trying to figure out where to protect myself in my hotel room. I started to move towards the center of the building once the big jolts slowed down. After the first huge jolt, there were numerous aftershocks.”
The caption also specified the clip was filmed on 3 April.
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the eastern coast of Taiwan on 3 April, near the city of Hualien. At least 18 people were killed and more than 1,100 were injured in what was the most powerful earthquake to hit the island for 25 years.
The northern coast of California was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 5 December, which led to tsunami warnings being issued in California and southern Oregon, but these were lifted around an hour later.
No deaths or widespread major damage have been reported as a consequence of the California earthquake.
We have previously fact checked footage from other weather events being misattributed, including a clip which was claimed to show people fleeing a hurricane in Florida which was actually from India, and a video compilation which likely showed flooding in Poland, not Spain.
Full Fact often sees miscaptioned videos and images circulating when natural disasters strike. It’s important to consider whether what you are seeing online is accurate before sharing. Our guides to identifying misleading images and videos can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the video is not of an earthquake that recently struck California, but from Taiwan in April.
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