Claim: A video shows a hotel’s kitchen in Turkey shaking and people screaming after a massive earthquake hit the country on 6 February 2023.
Fact: The footage has been wrongly linked to the recent earthquake. It was taken three years ago when an earthquake struck Izmir, Turkey, on 30 October 2020.
Two severe earthquakes — measuring 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale — struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria in the early morning of 6 February 2023, killing 40,000 people and injuring tens of thousands. A stream of misinformation has proliferated on social media in the aftermath of the quake.
Fact or Fiction?
On 7 February 2023, Twitter user Imran Rana Ejaz shared a video claiming that it shows a hotel in Turkey being struck by the recent earthquake in Turkey.
“Inside visuals of Turkey Famous Hotel …
#Turkey #TurkeyEarthquake #Turkiye #Turkish #TurkeyQuake #turkeyhelp #turkifsa #Turquia #Syria #syriaearthquake #Syria_earthquake #Syrian #PrayForTurkey #earthquake,” the tweet reads.
Soch Fact Check used reverse image search tools to ascertain the source of the video.
We found the video was posted on 30 October 2020 by Twitter user Rosy (@rose_k01) with the caption, “CCTV Footage of Horrifying moments of Earthquake #izmir #Earthquake #Turkey #TurkeyEarthquake.”
Iran-based Mehr News Agency carried the video on its website on 31 October 2020. The article is titled, “VIDEO: New footage shows strength of quake in Izmir.”
A keyword search “Izmir earthquake 2020” on Google revealed that a strong earthquake struck Turkey’s western Aegean coast and the Greek island of Samos on 30 October 2020.
A Reuters report stated that people ran onto streets in panic in the Turkish city of Izmir after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the city.
Soch Fact Check concluded that the viral video does not show the recent disaster and is from three years ago.
Virality:
The claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here and here on Facebook.
On Twitter, the video was posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, among others.
Soch Fact Check found that Twitter user — @Headlineznow — tweet gained significant traction, with over 3 million people viewing the video, 5,856 retweets, and 14,900 likes and 399 comments, as of writing time.
Conclusion: The video is not recent. It was taken on 30 October 2020 when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Turkish city of Izmir.