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Viral video purporting to show Dec. 5 earthquake predates it by months | Fact check
The claim: Video shows California earthquake in December 2024
A Dec. 5 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a video of the interior of a high-rise dwelling during what appears to be an earthquake. The camera sways and various items around the room fall over.
Superimposed on the clip is the U.S. Geological Survey's shake map of the Dec. 5 event in northern California. The post’s caption reads in part, “California earthquakes.”
The Instagram post received more than 700 likes in a day. Similar versions accumulated hundreds of additional likes on Instagram and circulated widely on X.
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Our rating: False
The video does not show the Dec. 5 earthquake in California. It predates the event by several months.
Clip circulated months before California earthquake
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake – the most powerful to rattle the state in five years – struck near the California town of Petrolia on Dec. 5 and sparked a brief tsunami warning that stretched from southern Oregon to San Francisco.
But that is not what the Instagram video shows. The clip in the post predates the California earthquake by at least eight months.
Fact check: Storm footage wrongly linked to Hurricane Milton
The video was previously shared in an April 6 TikTok post with a caption that states it shows an April 3 earthquake in Taipei, Taiwan. A 7.4-magnitude quake – the strongest to hit the island in at least a quarter-century – on April 3 hit just southwest of Hualien City, Taiwan, leaving at least 18 people dead and more than 1,100 injured.
USA TODAY was unable to independently confirm the video's origin but found no record of it prior to April 6. The TikTok user who shared it did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
USA TODAY previously debunked false claims about miscaptioned videos showing traffic and flooding in Florida during Hurricane Milton and a July tornado and storms in Iowa.
USA TODAY reached out to multiple Instagram users who shared the clip but did not immediately receive any responses.
Our fact-check sources
@drsamtrang, April 6, TikTok post
Center for Disaster Philanthropy, Oct. 31, 2024 Taiwan (Hualien) Earthquake
USA TODAY, April 3, Taiwan hit by strongest earthquake in 25 years; 4 dead and dozens injured: Updates
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viral video does not show Dec. 5 California earthquake | Fact check
