Old video shared as people praying as quake struck Morocco

Context

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Morocco and its surrounding regions on September 8, 2023, with its epicenter around 70 km from Morocco, causing damage in numerous urban areas. According to the latest news reports, the death toll has now crossed 2,800. Following the quake, social media users have shared several misattributed videos, falsely claiming to show recent events in Morocco during the earthquake.

What's the claim? 

One such video circulating across social media platforms, including X (archive here), shows a group of people praying in a mosque. It captures the moments when the earthquake occurs, and the worshipers can still be seen continuing the prayers without disruption. The video is captioned, “The most terrifying moment during the Morocco earthquake. Witness the composure of the worshippers at the time of the earthquake. There is no god but Allah. #Morocco #Earthquake #Faith #زلزال_المغر .” The post has been viewed more than 2,000 times and was shared by several other users on X, stating that it was recently seen during the earthquake in Morocco. The video is also viral across Facebook and TikTok with a similar narrative (an archive can be found here and here).

Screengrab showing claims made online. (Source: Facebook/TikTok/Screenshot)

However, the video is old and now viral, with incorrect claims. 

What are the facts?

Research showed us that the video was possibly captured during the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023, and is not recent. A reverse image search of a screenshot from the viral clip led us to a post shared on X on February 26, 2023. The caption written in Turkish roughly translates to, “Images of the mosque community caught in the earthquake in Faruk Mosque in Idlib countryside.” The visuals exactly match the one seen in the viral clip. Several similarities can also be identified between the two videos, as seen in the image below.  

A comparison of the viral clip and the February 2023 video. (Source: X/Screenshot)

Several other posts (archive here) on X (archive here) also carried the same video, dating back to February 2023. 

We found a YouTube video uploaded by Al Jazeera on February 26, 2023, which shows the same visuals. The video description details written in Arabic, translated to English, reads, “Syrian activists posted on social media platforms a new video clip monitored by a surveillance camera showing the moment of worshipers’ stability during the earthquake on February 20 in Al-Farouq Mosque in the city of Dana in the Idlib countryside. The clip showed that the worshipers did not move from their place despite the strength of the earthquake, which reached a magnitude of 6.4 and its epicenter was in the Turkish province of Hatay (sic).”

YouTube video showing worshipers praying in Idlib city, Syria. (Source:YouTube/Al Jazeera Arabic)

The same video was also posted on the website of Yeni Safak, a Turkish daily. The description states: “A video clip captured by security camera lenses inside Al-Farouq Mosque in the town of Al-Dana in the Idlib countryside shows the stability of worshipers during a 6.4-magnitude earthquake on February 20.”

The above evidence clarifies that the video is old and unrelated to the recent earthquake in Morocco. 

The verdict

An old video captured during the earthquake in Syria in February 2023 has been shared as worshippers praying as an earthquake struck Morocco. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.