Old videos falsely linked to 7.7-magnitude tremor that rattled northern Japan
After a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan on April 20, a wave of videos purporting to show the impact of the quake were falsely shared on social media. The clips actually show earthquakes that predate the April one. They describe when a tsunami hit eastern Japan in 2025, the aftermath of an earthquake that shook a western Japanese prefecture on New Year’s Day in 2024, and the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck in March 2011.
“A tsunami hits Japan after a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake,” reads part of the caption of two videos shared on X on April 20, 2026.
“The first waves are already hitting the port of Hachinohe…” he adds, referring to a town located on the northeast coast of the main island of Honshu, Japan.
Viewed more than 42,000 times, the videos show massive waves hitting coastal areas and an earthquake violently shaking buildings and power poles.
Screenshot of the fake post captured on April 22, 2026, with a red X added by AFP
A similar video showing tsunami waves engulfing a city street was shared in an X post on April 20.
“Magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Japan, tsunami warning,” reads the caption of the video in Korean. “I hope there won’t be too much damage.”
Screenshot of the fake post captured on April 22, 2026, with a red X added by AFP
The videos were also shared in similar social media posts in multiple languages, including Chinese, English, Japanese and Thai.
They circulated after Japan – home to around 125 million people and one of the most seismically active countries in the world – was hit by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on April 20 (archived link).
The earthquake shook northern Japan and triggered tsunami waves reaching 80 centimeters (31 inches) at a port in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture.
But the videos circulating online do not show the impact of the April 20 quake, which does not appear to have caused major damage (archived link).
2025 tsunami waves
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the crashing wave video led to the same clip posted to Facebook on July 30, 2025 (archived link).
Its caption says the video shows tsunami waves caused by an earthquake in Russia.
Comparison of screenshots of the falsely shared video (left) and the Facebook post from July 2025, with corresponding characteristics highlighted by AFP.
A similar clip was published the same day by the AP news agency, with the accompanying caption stating that a magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the Russian Far East had triggered tsunami waves in Japan and triggered Pacific-wide warnings (archived link). The text on the clip states that it was captured in Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan.
The AFP reported that almost two million people were ordered to seek shelter on higher ground, with the largest wave recorded being 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) (archived link).
The video matches Google Earth satellite imagery of the town of Oarai in Ibaraki Prefectureabout 450 kilometers (279 miles) south of Kuji – where the 80-centimeter tsunami wave was recorded on April 20, 2026 (archived link).
Comparison of screenshots of the falsely shared video (L) and satellite imagery from Google Earth
Noto earthquake in 2024
A separate reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video of a shaking city street led to a longer, uncropped version shared on YouTube by Japan’s MBS News on January 11, 2024 (archived link).
The video’s Japanese description says it was filmed during the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year’s Day (archived link). Magnitude 7.5 earthquake was Japan’s deadliest in more than a decade, according to nearly 470 lives.
Comparison of screenshots of the falsely shared video (L) and the MBS News video
A subsequent keyword search on Google revealed that the same clip was shared on January 6, 2024 by an X user detailing their experience evacuating with their family during the earthquake (archived link).
The images match Google Street View images of an intersection in Anamizu, a town in Ishikawa Prefecture on the west coast of Japan (archived link).
Comparison of screenshots of the falsely shared video (L) and Google Street View images, with corresponding buildings highlighted by AFP
Earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011
A reverse image search on Google using key frames from video of a street flooded by tsunami waves led to the same footage shared by Japan’s All-Nippon News network on YouTube on January 17, 2020 (archived link).
The footage is described as showing how a tsunami hit the town of Kesennuma on March 11, 2011. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that triggered the tsunami was one of the deadliest natural disasters in Japanese history, killing more than 18,000 people (archived here and here).
Comparison of screenshots of the falsely shared video (L) and the YouTube video from January 2020, with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP
The video matches Google Street View images of Kesennuma taken in July 2011 (archived link). The town is located approximately 140 kilometers (86 miles) south of Kuji.
Screenshot of Google Street View images from July 2011
Old footage often resurfaces in misleading social media posts during natural disasters, and the AFP has previously refuted false claims that misrepresented the video in 2024.
