On 30 July 2025, an earthquake of 8.8 Magnitude occurred (here, here, here, and here) in Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, setting off Tsunami warnings (here, here, here, and here) in various regions across the Pacific Ocean. A few media outlets reported the magnitude of the earthquake as 8.7 (here, here, and here). Reportedly, this is the largest earthquake in the region since 1952. Reuters reported that a Tsunami of 3-5 meters was recorded (here, here, and here) in the Kamchatka Peninsula, setting off Tsunami warnings in various countries, including Japan and the US. This triggered evacuation orders across the Pacific regions like Japan, Hawaii, and the US West Coast.
In this context, multiple videos (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) are being shared on social media, claiming to be related to these events in Russia, Japan, and other regions. Media outlets like DNA India, TV9 Bharatvarsh, and the Daily Jagran have also posted these videos (here, here, here, and here). We will fact-check these claims through this article,
Claim: Visuals related to the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 30 July 2025
Fact: These visuals are old and not related to the July 2025 earthquake. Hence, the claims made in these posts are Misleading.
Video 1
This video (here, here, and here) is being shared with a claim that it shows the moment the Earthquake struck Russia on 30 July 2025.
To verify this, we performed a reverse image search on the Internet using a few keyframes from the video, and we found media reports (here, here, and here) from March 2025, which reported it to be from Myanmar. Reportedly, this incident was recorded in a shop in Myanmar’s Mandalay on 28 March 2025.
Video 2
This video (here, here, and here) is being shared as the visuals of the Tsunami triggered due to this earthquake. However, through a reverse image search on the internet, we found older uploads of this video from 2017 and 2021 (here, here, and here).
According to these YouTube videos, this video was filmed in 2017, captured when a Tsunami hit Greenland. According to a report by Newsflare, this video was filmed on 17 June 2017 and shows three fishermen ‘trying to secure their boats as a mass of water sweeps into a small bay.’
Video 3
This video (here and here) contains multiple clips of water flooding streets and washing away the vehicles on them. It is being shared as visuals of the Tsunami waves arriving on the east coast of Japan. However, we found this video in a 2011 Japan Tsunami compilation video (appears at the 1:51 mark) uploaded on a YouTube channel named Machine Eye on 5 April 2023.
Also, Factly earlier published a fact-check article on the third clip of this video, when it was shared as visuals of the August 2021 floods in China.
Video 4
This video (here, here, and here) of Beluga whales lying on a seashore is being shared with a claim that this incident happened yesterday, i.e, 29 July 2025, in Russia’s Kamchatka, the epicentre of the Earthquake. It is being said that these five Beluga Whales washing ashore was a warning signal from nature.
However, through a reverse image search on a few keyframes from the viral video, we found (here and here) that the video is from August 2023. It shows fishermen in Kamchatka, Russia, rescuing Five Beluga Whales that were found stranded on a beach near the Tigil River.
Video 5
This video of people at a beach running away from the shore is being shared in the Kamchatka earthquake context.
However, through a reverse image search on the internet, we found a longer version of this video on YouTube uploaded in March 2017. According to the video’s description, this was recorded in Durban, South Africa, when massive waves hit the Durban North beach.
According to the news reports (here, here, and here) about this incident, it took place on 14 March 2017. In the past, when this video was shared online, linking it to the February 2023 Turkey earthquake, Factly published a fact-check article, debunking the claim.
To sum up, old and unrelated visuals are falsely attributed to the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred on 30 July 2025 in Russia’s Kamchatka.
