Old videos of disasters after the Alaska earthquake and tsunami warning were misrepresented

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After a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the Alaskan Peninsula, many videos circulated online with claims to show footage of the disaster. But the five photos examined by AFP are false; They all precede the incident, and some show scenes far from the United States.

One of the many tweets on July 16, 2023 from an anonymous profile called “CBKNEWS” reads: “A #Tsunami Warning has been issued following a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in the Alaska Peninsula region.”

The account previously spread misinformation about past natural disasters and other events, while frequently promoting images and slogans associated with a QAnon conspiracy theory.

The video shows a tsunami making landfall, as fishermen scramble to escape the oncoming wave while crossing their boats with barrels.

It spread shortly after the July 15 earthquake about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of the small Alaskan town of Sand Point, briefly triggering a tsunami warning.

Screenshot from Twitter taken July 18, 2023

Another clip shared by the same Twitter user with a matching caption depicts several homes surrounded by high tide.

Screenshot from Twitter taken July 18, 2023

But as with many other visuals that CBKNEWS has shared about the quake, the two clips have been misrepresented.

Reverse image searches revealed that they both date back to the June 2017 tsunami that rocked the western coast of Greenland after a landslide in a fjord.

Several years old videos, including uploads from British media company Newsflare, show the same footage of fishermen (archived here and here) and flooded homes (archived here and here).

Anchorage’s 2018 Snapshots

A third tweet from the CBKNEWS account included a home security camera recording of a man scrambling to protect his children as an earthquake shook the room.

“Video: #Alaska #earthquake #Tsumani,” the July 16 post read.

Screenshot from Twitter taken July 18, 2023

But reverse image searches turned up the same video in news reports (archived here and here) from November 30, 2018, when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck north of Anchorage, Alaska, according to the US Geological Survey (archived here). Reports attribute the security footage to Anchorage resident Jesse Elmore, who described how his instincts to start the tremors began.

Another tweet from the CBKNEWS claims page showing “Reporting on #Alaska #earthquake this morning” is similarly misleading.

Screenshot from Twitter taken July 18, 2023

AFP traced the video to a November 30, 2018 report from Inside Edition (archived here) covering the same 2018 earthquake in Anchorage.

Florida clouds

A fifth clip described as footage from Alaska shows beachgoers looking at ominous clouds hovering over the water.

Screenshot from Twitter taken July 18, 2023

But the same footage appeared in an article from June 2021 (archived here) about the apocalyptic skies in Florida.

The original poster, who shared their recording on Facebook, said they shot it in Fort Walton Beach, Florida (archived here).

Social media users previously misrepresented the shot as footage of Hurricane Ian, which roared over Florida in September 2022.

AFP has checked misinformation about other earthquakes, including here, here, and here.

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