Fact Check: Was Japan hit by a violent tsunami on April 22, 2020?

The news and media in the current times are responsible to not only show the real news but also to not mislead the audience and lead them astray. Social media has also become a channel through which news gets transported throughout the world, but it is important to first understand whether anything is real or fake. There have been many videos circulating on the internet of a 'possible' tsunami that is happening in Japan.

ALSO READ |Fact Check: Did The US State Of Missouri Sue China Over The Coronavirus Outbreak?

Claim:

Many Facebook pages have started live videos or showed videos of a tsunami destroying buildings and taking away everything with its waves. These videos have different scenes where one can see houses floating away, flyovers breaking down, and the port of the city being destroyed. As these pages added the feature of 'live' video, many people started sharing it on their profiles and prayed for the safety of the Japanese people. 

ALSO READ | Fact Check: Is Ministry Of Human Resources Giving Free Access To National Digital Library?

ALSO READ | Fact Check: Are The 16 COVID-19 Tips By A Doctor Of Ganga Ram Hospital Authentic?

Rating: Fake

The videos that are being shared by people on social media are that of the Tsunami that happened in 2011 in Japan. These videos are being re-circulated by people on their social media. Many comments on these videos also talk about how these videos are outdated and old.  

ALSO READ | Fact Check: Debunking 3 Pieces Of Fake News That Went Viral Amid The Covid Outbreak

The videos shared online claiming to be of April 2020 is 2011 footage

Origin:

The videos started making rounds after the news that there is an imminent tsunami that can hit Japan. The weather reports in Japan had claimed that there was a possibility for the country to experience a Tsunami at Hokkaido in northern Japan and Iwate in the northeast. A Japanese news portal also talked about how the authorities warned that the people need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario and also a mega-earthquake. The 2011 Tsunami was a result of an earthquake of the magnitude 9.0. It left more than 15,000 dead. The 2011 tsunami was focused on the Japan Trench. Since the 2020 warning is of the same place, people used this to spread the wrong information. There has been no tsunami news in Japan. It is also important to note that something as disastrous as an earthquake in Japan would have been covered by the news portals. 

ALSO READ | Fact Check: Did BMC Appeal To All Citizens To Drink Boiled Water For 7 Days?

Google Trends Analysis

People have been looking for the news of the tsunami on the internet as well. The search saw a peak on April 22 at 9.30 PM in India. It is important to note that at 9.30 PM IST is 1 AM in the morning in Japan. The videos do not show snippets from late night. 

Source: Google Trends