Fact Check: Video claiming that recent earthquake led to chasm in the earth’s crust in Turkey is false
A fresh earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria rendering many shelterless. This comes 2 weeks after a devastating earthquake that destroyed several buildings and killed more than 40,000 people.
A fresh earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria rendering many shelterless. This comes 2 weeks after a devastating earthquake that destroyed several buildings and killed more than 40,000 people.
The 6.3-magnitude earthquake was recorded on February 20, 2023, in the province of Hatay. The quake hit the town of Defne and was also felt in Antakya and Adana.
Right after this, a video showing an aerial view of a wide chasm in the earth is in wide circulation with the claim that the video shows the earth’s crust breaking in the Hatay province of Turkey.
Fact check:
The claim that the viral video shows the broken earth’s crust in Hatay, Turkey, is false. The video is from China and not Turkey.
When we searched for the earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, we found a few other visuals that are completely different from the visuals in the viral video.
Here are the visuals from the viral video claiming about the broken earth’s crust in Antakya in Turkey.
When the extracted key frames from the video were searched using reverse image search, we found that the same video was published on Chinese video websites like Zhihu and bilbili.
The video was also published on November 4, 2022, on a YouTube channel named 亼亼影视 with the title "《平陆县大沟壑》整个平原上划出一道长约10公里的鸿沟，
When translated, it states: “The Great Ravine in Pinglu County" A chasm about 10 kilometers long is drawn on the entire plain. What kind of force divides it into two parts?”
When we searched for Pinglu county on Google Earth, we could confirm that the video was from China. We could see the crack in the earth’s crust had been existing in this place since long and that it was not formed due to a recent earthquake.
Hence, the video does not show the cracking of the earth’s crust in Hatay, Turkey due to a recent earthquake. It is from Pinglu County, China. The claim is false.