Months-old videos depict Myanmar tremor, not Russian quake
After Russia’s sparsely populated Far East was rattled by one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in late July, old videos were shared in posts falsely claiming they showed the impact of the tremor. The clips were in fact recorded in March, when Myanmar was struck by a 7.7-magnitude quake.
“Tonight (July 30), a powerful 8.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula, categorised as a ‘very shallow earthquake’,” reads part of the traditional Chinese caption of a Threads clip shared on July 30, 2025.
The clip appears to show CCTV footage of the inside of a shop as a tremor hits, sending shelves crashing down.
A similar TikTok video, also shared on July 30, shows staff scrambling for cover under desks as the quake strikes.
“Sad news from Russia. An 8.7 earthquake followed by a tsunami happened this morning,” reads its Indonesian-language caption.
Screenshots of the false Threads and TikTok posts captured on July 31, 2025, with red Xs added by AFP
They surfaced hours after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula, prompting evacuations and tsunami alerts across parts of the Pacific coast (archived link).
Fears of a catastrophe subsided, however, with country after country lifting or downgrading warnings and telling coastal residents they could return.
The circulating clips were also shared in similar Douyin, Facebook, Instagram and X posts.
But the clips in fact show the impact of a different earthquake.
Myanmar temblor
A closer analysis of the first falsely shared clip shows a timecode in its top-right corner that reads, “2025-03-28”, which is when a 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar (archived link).
More than 3,700 people were killed in the quake, which destroyed swathes of homes and businesses (archived link).
Screenshot of the falsely shared clip, with the timecode magnified by AFP
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to a longer version that was shared on TikTok on March 30 by an account called “Top One Mobile” (archived link).
“It’s not easy to run within three seconds,” reads its Burmese-language caption.
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the TikTok video posted in March (right)
The account also shared a similar video from a different angle (archived link).
Subsequent keyword searches led to the same footage posted on the YouTube channel “2025 Sagaing Earthquake Archive”, which said it showed a shop in Tada-U, Myanmar (archived link).
Google Maps images of the Top One store front match other videos posted by the TikTok account (archived here and here).
An analysis of the second falsely shared clip shows a decal on the wall that reads, “Lady Bug”.
A combination of keyword searches and reverse image searches led to a TikTok video posted on May 7, on the account of a salon and cosmetics supplier called Lady Bug (archived link).
The video’s Burmese-language caption includes a hashtag for the March 28 earthquake, and says the staff shown in the video were safe.
The date, “2025-03-28”, can also be seen in the video’s top-right corner.
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the video posted in May (right)
The shop also shared the video on their Facebook page on May 11, alongside an announcement that the branch on 62nd Street in the central city of Mandalay had to be demolished because of damage caused by the quake (archived link).
“We are looking for a new location for the shop and we will be back soon,” it adds.
Google Maps imagery of the location in Mandalay now shows a flattened plot (archived link).
AFP has also debunked other misinformation, which often surfaces after natural disasters, related to the July 30 quake.
