Old videos from Greenland and Florida claimed to be from Alaska amid Tsunami warnings

By: Umme Kulsum
July 24 2023

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Context

A tsunami warning was issued in Alaska on July 15 following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the peninsula with subsequent aftershocks. The tsunami warning was eventually lowered and canceled on July 16 hours later as the aftershocks posed no threat. Since the warning was issued in Alaska, numerous outdated and unrelated videos are being circulated claiming they are from Alaska. 

A Twitter profile named “CBKNEWS” shared an unrelated video (archive here) with the claim that the clip was of a disaster following the tsunami warnings in Alaska. The video clip shows a horizon, with wooden cabins being slowly dislodged. The post gathered more than 50k views and about 300 likes and had a caption that read, “Alaska Tsunami: A #tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.4 magnitude #earthquake in the Alaska Peninsula region.”

The same user shared another video (archive here) claiming that it was footage from Alaska. In this video, beachgoers gaze at a heavy blanket of gray clouds over the water body and had198.9k views.

However, both videos are old and not from Alaska.

In Fact

Video 1

Logically Facts performed a Google reverse image search on the first video and found that the same video has been on the internet since 2017, and was uploaded on YouTube on August 21, 2017. We also found another video with different angles uploaded on YouTube on June 20, 2017, by a national broadcasting organization of Greenland, KRN News Nutaarsiassat. This clip resembled the viral video where the water slowly carries away a small colorful cottage and the same mountains can be seen behind the water body. The video's title hinted that those visuals were from Nuugaatsiaq in northwest Greenland. 

Using the clues from the YouTube videos, we also geolocated the place shown in the viral video. Although, we could not find the street view of the area where the viral video was shot. We matched the landscape on Google Earth to Nuugaatsiaq village, which featured high mountains behind the water body comparable to what was depicted in the viral video.

According to the International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC), on June 17, 2017, a massive tsunami struck the Karrat Fjord on Greenland's west coast, causing serious property damage and casualties in the little fishing community of Nuugaatsiaq.

Video 2

We also used reverse image search on the second video, showing beachgoers looking out at dark clouds from a beach shore. We found the video was published by Daily Star on June 27, 2021, which stated that the video of apocalyptic skies was shot at Fort Walton Beach in Florida on June 21, 2021. The news outlet credits the video to a Facebook user Andrew Farnam. The Facebook user shared the video on June 22, 2021. 

Taking a clue from the news report, we looked up Fort Walton Beach in Florida on Google Earth and found the street view of Walton Beach, and the visuals in the viral video matched the same. Furthermore, a volleyball court can be seen at 0:10 seconds in the 15-second viral video, which matches what we observed on Google Earth street view photographs. This confirms that the video is not from Alaska, but from Florida.

The Verdict

Pre-dated videos from Nuugaatsiaq village and a Florida beach are being circulated with the claim that they are from Alaska. There was no tsunami in Alaska on June 16, only a warning that was eventually canceled after a few hours. Therefore we mark this claim as false.