WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Videos show breaking footage of an earthquake in Alaska.
OUR VERDICT
False. The videos show past earthquakes from other countries.
AAP FACTCHECK - A video showing a montage of earthquakes from around the world is being used to falsely claim it shows breaking footage of a quake in Alaska.
While there was a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the US state, the footage shows earlier disasters in different countries.
The claim is in a Fcebook video shared by an Australian user that has been viewed more than 5.5 million times.
It shows dramatic scenes, including cars being violently shaken while waiting at traffic lights, swimmers trying to stay afloat in sloshing swimming pools and water spilling from the sides of buildings.
"A magnetude (sic) 7.3 earthquake occurred today about 54 miles from Sandpoint, Alaska," the overlay text reads.
The post reads: "Tsunami warning for coastal area #earthquake #7.3 #alaska #TsunamiWarning #Godblesseveryone #keepsafeevery0ne".
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake did occur near Sand Point off the Alaska Peninsula on the same day the post was shared (July 16, 2025), according to government information and media reports.
The earthquake triggered a tsunami advisory for nearby communities, which was lifted days later.
However, none of the footage in the Facebook video depicts the Alaska quake and the clips show geological disasters in other locations, including Taiwan and Mexico, dating as far back as 2011.
In the first clip, a jeep can be seen shaking violently as it waits at a red traffic light.
A reverse image search reveals the footage shows an earthquake in Japan and was originally posted on YouTube on January 3, 2024.
The magnitude 7.5 earthquake and tsunami off the east coast of Japan's main island of Honshu killed at least 228 people on January 1, 2024.
The video has been reversed from the original and the intersection it shows is in the town of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, according to Google Maps.
In the second clip (timestamp 3 seconds), a person is shown in a rooftop swimming pool that appears to be rocking dramatically.
A reverse image search reveals the same video was reported by multiple news outlets, including the BBC, and shows an earthquake in Taipei.
The city was shaken by a 7.4 earthquake in south-western Taiwan on April 3, 2024.
Another clip (timestamp 0:05) shows water cascading down the side of a shaking, multi-storey building before hitting power lines.
However, a reverse image search reveals that the video shows a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit Mexico in June 2020.
It was originally posted on social media, including by Mexico City's W Radio.
Furniture can be seen shaking beside the window of a high-rise apartment in the next clip (timestamp 0:07).
However, rather than Alaska, the clip is again from Taipei during the April 2024 quake and the clip was originally posted on Instagram.
The final clip (timestamp 0:13) shows cars floating down a street in a torrent of grey water.
The video does not show Sand Point, Alaska, in 2025, but Japan's 2011 tsunami that killed 18,5000 people.
A longer version of the same video was shared on YouTube on December 18, 2011, with the caption stating it shows the tsunami in Ishinomaki in eastern Japan.
Ishinomaki was one of many cities hit by the large tsunami generated by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake on March 11, 2011.
A claim about the same video and floods in China has previously been debunked by AFP FactCheck.
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