Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) experienced earthquake tremors on the morning of 17 February 2025, with the National Center for Seismology (NCS) reporting a magnitude of 4.0. Amid this, multiple videos are going viral on social media (here, here, and here), claiming to show visuals of the Delhi earthquake. Let’s verify the claims made in the posts through this article.
Update (19 February 2025):
Claim 5:
Another video (here and here) of a man standing on a collapsed road is being shared, claiming to show the aftermath of the Delhi earthquake.
Reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led us to the original videos (here & here), which were uploaded in February 2023. According to the media reports (here & here), the video is from Turkey, where a road collapsed during the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on 06 February 2023.
Claim 6:
Another photo (here, here and here) of a tilted building is being shared with the claim that it partially collapsed during the 2025 Delhi earthquake.
A reverse image search of the viral photo led us to the same image featured in a Hindustan Times news article (archive) from 2015. According to the report, the photo shows a building in South Delhi that partially collapsed when tremors were felt in Delhi and the surrounding areas in October 2015.
Claim 7:
Another photo of a tilted building is being shared with the claim that it shows visuals from the 2025 Delhi earthquake.
A reverse image search of the viral photo led us to multiple articles (here, here and here) dating back to 2011, featuring the same image. One such article states that the photo (from another angle) shows a partially collapsed building in Turkey after an earthquake struck the country in August 1999. Although we couldn’t independently verify the location of the photo, the evidence suggests that it is old and unrelated to the 2025 Delhi earthquake.
Published (17 February 2025):
Claim: Visuals show the Delhi earthquake that occurred on the morning of 17 February 2025.
Fact: The viral videos are not related to the Delhi-NCR earthquake. The first video has been online since 16 February 2025, predating the event. The second video is from 13 February 2021, capturing a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Japan’s Fukushima and Miyagi regions. The third video shows the aftermath of the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Suzu City, Japan, on 2 March 2023. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Video 1
Upon careful observation, the viral video’s CCTV footage displays the date and time as 15 February 2025, 22:48, while the Delhi-NCR earthquake occurred on the morning of 17 February 2025.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to an X post (archived) dated 16 February 2025 at 12:33 AM, featuring the same video. This predates the Delhi-NCR earthquake. The post claimed that the footage was from the user’s home CCTV during the earthquake in Islamabad, Pakistan.
We found multiple media reports (here, here, and here) confirming that Pakistan experienced a 4.8-magnitude earthquake on 15 February 2025 at a depth of 17 km, with its epicentre 15 km southeast of Rawalpindi. Tremors were felt in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and several surrounding areas.
Though we couldn’t independently verify the video’s location, it is confirmed that it is unrelated to the Delhi-NCR earthquake that occurred on the morning of 17 February 2025, as it was recorded earlier.
Video 2
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the viral video led us to a YouTube video dated 15 February 2021 (archived), titled “Water Spills Out of Bathtub as it Shakes Rigorously During Earthquake in Japan.”
We used relevant keywords and found a Ukrainian news (archived) report dated 15 February 2021, featuring similar screenshots from the viral video. According to the report, the incident occurred on 13 February 2021 when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s Fukushima and Miyagi regions. The quake was also felt in Tokyo, and the viral video was uploaded on TikTok by a woman.
On 23 February 2021, Weather.com (archived) featured this video, providing clarification that it was filmed in Chiba City, Japan, and confirming that it was recorded during the Fukushima earthquake.
Video 3
A reverse image search of the keyframes from the viral video led to a news report (archived) featuring the same video on the “ANN News” YouTube channel published on 02 February 2024. Titled “The moment of collapse captured on dashcam, tsunami on rear camera Super J Channel 02 February 2024.”
According to the report, the video documents the aftermath of the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on 02 March 2023. At 4:10 pm, intense shaking caused multiple houses to collapse, including one captured on a car’s dashcam. A tsunami warning was issued shortly after, and by 4:47 pm, the car was engulfed by the tsunami. The footage highlights the widespread destruction and the struggles of residents to evacuate, underscoring the importance of earthquake-resistant construction.
Factly had previously debunked the same video when it went viral, with claims that it showed the Tibet earthquake of 07 January 2025.
Reverse image search of the viral video led us to the original video (archive) uploaded on the YouTube channel of the Anchorage School District on 04 December 2018. The video’s description states that it captures footage from a school in Anchorage Municipality, USA, on 30 November 2018. Media reports (here and here) on this incident confirm that a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Anchorage on the same day.
To sum up, old and unrelated videos are falsely shared as those from the recent February 2025 Delhi Earthquake.
Note: This article was updated on 18 February 2025, to include the content under the subheading “Video 4”
