The post surfaced shortly after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake shook New York City and parts of the east coast of the United States.
UN Security Council diplomats were shaken in their seats, planes were briefly grounded and furniture rattled across the city, but no one was injured in the quake.
According to the geology agency USGS, earthquakes along the US Atlantic coast were “uncommon but not unheard of”.
The clip was also shared on YouTube, Instagram and social media site X, along with a similar false claim.
In reality, it was filmed during an overpass in Taipei’s Xinyi commercial district.
Incorrectly displayed images
Reverse image searches followed by keyword searches on Google found the video published on April 3, 2024 by multiple news organizations, including Taiwanese broadcaster CTS News – before the US earthquake (archived link).
The CTS News report was published on the same day that Taiwan was hit by its strongest earthquake in 25 years, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 1,140.
Strict building codes and widespread disaster preparedness were credited with preventing an even greater catastrophe.
The traditional Chinese title of the CTS News report translates as: “High highway shakes violently during the strong earthquake”.
A location marker and the voiceover also stated that the footage was shot in Taipei.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the misrepresented footage (left) and the clip published by CTS News (right):
A screenshot comparison below shows a taxi visible in the report (left) that matches the style of taxis commonly seen in Taiwan as shown in a photo from AFP (left):
Using other features seen in the video, such as security barriers and the shape of the buildings, AFP geolocated the scene to a section of Taipei’s Zhengqi Bridge, near where it turns into Civic Boulevard, one of the the city’s main thoroughfares (archived links here and here).
The location can be seen in the Google Street View images below:
Below is a screenshot comparison between the dashcam footage published by CTS News (left) and Google Maps Street View footage (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:
AFP has debunked other false social media reports linking photos of the Taiwan earthquake to the New York earthquake.
