Overview

• An 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on July 30 prompted Pacific-wide tsunami alerts that have since receded without major damage.
• A video depicting people fleeing tsunami waves was uncovered as footage from a landslide-triggered Greenland tsunami in September 2017, not the recent event.
• Footage of beluga whales stranded and aided by Kamchatka fishermen dated back to August 2023 and bears no link to this week’s earthquake.
• Fact-checking organizations including Snopes, Full Fact and Lead Stories verified the origins of both clips, illustrating how past disaster videos resurface during crises.
• The ongoing circulation of these debunked videos highlights persistent challenges in verifying digital media during natural disasters.