By: Sam Doak
February 7 2023
False: Footage shows a building collapsing next to a busy road during an earthquake in Turkey.
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
This video shows what appears to be a controlled demolition in Saudi Arabia.
Claim ID b71cb1ba
Context
A large earthquake struck south-eastern Turkey on February 7, 2023. Measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale and followed by a series of aftershocks, it resulted in the deaths of over 5,000 people. Shortly after this disaster, users on social media began sharing clips purporting to show the damage it caused.
Among these videos is one that shows a building collapsing next to a busy road. Uploaded to Twitter with the caption "God Help #Turkey," it was viewed over 270,000 times within 24 hours of being uploaded.
In Fact
This video does not show a building collapsing in Turkey or the result of an earthquake. After it was uploaded, users on Twitter pointed out that the lettering on visible license plates appeared to be written in Arabic script rather than in the Turkish alphabet.
This footage was eventually geolocated by Twitter user Luís Galrão. Galrão points out that dashcam footage on YouTube and photography on Google Maps show that it was recorded in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
As Galrão and other Twitter users have stated, the video appears to show a controlled demolition, not the consequence of a natural disaster. No other damage can be seen, and the drivers on camera are not acting as if anything is amiss.
While the account that uploaded this footage is labelled "Turkey Earthquake News," its handle and a link displayed in its bio indicate that it was not created to serve as a news source but was intended to promote an online store called "RichTasy."
This video is one of many that have been uploaded and misattributed to recent events in Turkey since the earthquake.
The Verdict
This footage does not show events during the recent earthquake in Turkey. Instead, it shows what appears to be a controlled demolition of a building in Jeddah. This is easily verifiable through footage on YouTube and photography on Google Maps. We have therefore marked this claim as false.