Video Of Scaffolding Falling In Japan Falsely Linked To Türkiye-Syria Quake

1 year ago 51

An old video of scaffolding collapse from a multi-storey building in Japan in 2016 is being shared online falsely claiming that the video is from Türkiye and shows the impact of an aftershock.

BOOM found that the video is old and is from Japan and not connected to the devastating earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria.

A powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023, has claimed over 16,000 lives so far with the death toll expected to rise further.

The video is being peddled with a caption that states, "Turkey, which is already facing severe economic challenges, This devastating earthquake has taken it to financially 10 years back. Not only thousands of people are died due to these massive earthquakes but Turkey suffered Billions of dollars financial loss too."


Click here to view the tweet. 


Click here to view the tweet.

Fact Check 

BOOM ran a reverse image search on one of the video's keyframes using Google Lens and found a Togetter link carrying a collection of tweets from 2016.  

The tweet collage led us to a photo from the same area as shown in the viral video. 

聖蹟桜ヶ丘の駅前で足場が強風で倒壊しかかってる!危なすぎるけど、風が収まらないと何もできないだろうなぁ pic.twitter.com/mWhAocoTSN

— 𝑇𝐴𝐾𝐸 ꪔ̤̮ (@taketake_c) April 17, 2016

Click here to view the tweet. 

The tweet caption in Japanese mentioned that the picture was clicked in front of the Seiseki-Sakuragaoka station in Tama city, Tokyo, Japan. 

Another reverse image search on Google led us to a Facebook post from April 19, 2016, carrying the same video mentioning it to be from Japan. 


Click here to view the post. 

The video was uploaded with a caption saying, "Video: Dramatic footage surfaces online showing the collapse of scaffolding from a highrise building in Japan during high winds."

Taking a cue from these posts, we ran a related keyword search in Japanese and found an ANN news bulletin from April 17, 2016, reporting about the scaffolding collapse in Tama city, Japan.

The Japanese description of the news bulletin translates to, "In Tama City, Tokyo, the scaffolding of a building being demolished collapsed as strong winds blew under the influence of a low-pressure system. At around 10:30 am on the 17th, the metal scaffolding of a 9-story building under demolition in Sekido, Tama City collapsed due to strong winds."


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