Drone footage from Turkey shared as aftermath of Morocco earthquake

What is the claim?

An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck multiple cities in Morocco on September 8, 2023. More than 2,000 people died, and over 1,400 have suffered serious injuries.

Following this, many false and misleading videos about the disaster are circulating on social media. One such post on X reads, "See how much destruction has been caused by the earthquake in Morocco Disturbing Drone footage." The 45-second video consists of three different videos edited together. The first video shows vehicle movement on roads surrounded by building debris. The second is an aerial view of collapsed buildings along a river, and the third video is footage of collapsed buildings. These videos are circulating with hashtags #morocco and #moroccoearthquake. Archive links to viral posts sharing this footage can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshot of viral claims (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim is false, and the video clips are from Turkey, not from Morocco.

What did we find?

Footage 1

Through a reverse image search, we found that the longer version of the first clip was on a YouTube channel named 'Ticker' (Бегущая Строка), posted on February 10, 2023 with the title, "Destruction of Turkey from a drone - Hatay Province (translated from Russian)." At the 0:18 second timestamp, we can see the footage from the current viral clip. The vehicles and buildings match those seen in the viral video. The same video was also found on the YouTube channel @NCMohan0910, posted on February 10, 2023. Kyrgyzstani artist-singer Turdakun Niyazaliyev posted the same viral video on his Instagram account on February 11, 2023.

Comparison of screenshots from the viral video clip and YouTube video (Source:X/YouTube)

Footage 2

The second clip was uploaded to the video-sharing site Dailymotion on February 12, 2023, by a user called Ra2ej - Prevailing (Ra2ej - رائج) with the title "Türkiye earthquake: A drone documents the extent of the massive destruction that struck the city of Antioch." The video was also shared on an Instagram account called turk_muzic_tv, a music TV in Turkey, on February 14, 2023. Tribun Timur, a news network based in Indonesia, also posted the now-viral clip on February 11, 2023.

A comparison of screenshots from the viral video clip and Daily Motion video (Source:X/DailyMotion)

Using Google Earth Pro, Logically Facts determined that video was recorded in Antakya, Hatay Province in Turkey.

Comparison of a screenshot from the viral clip and geolocation of the video. (Source: X/Google Earth Pro)

Footage 3

This third clip was found on the Facebook account of The Guwahati Times in February 2023. It mentions that the video is drone footage of a city devastated by the Turkey earthquake. A freelance reporter from Syria, Fared Al Mahlool, uploaded the same video to his official X account on February 12, 2023, with the caption: “Turkey.” The same video was also found on the Instagram account of Yunus Gümüştaş, a civil engineer from Turkey, and Amel Ćurić, a musical artist, on February 12 and February 16, 2023.

Comparison of a screenshot from the viral clip and Facebook video. (Source: X/Facebook)

What happened in Turkey?

Turkey witnessed two massive earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude on February 6, 2023, in south-eastern Turkey and near the border with the Syrian Arab Republic. More than 50,000 fatalities were recorded, and it destroyed essential infrastructure, including business and health facilities.

The verdict

Six-month-old footage from Turkey has been falsely presented as video from the recent earthquake in Morocco. Therefore, we have rated this claim as false.