Footage of buildings jolted by tremors has been shared in social media posts in the Philippines that falsely claim it shows an "11.9 magnitude earthquake" in the US state of California in August 2023. However, earthquakes cannot exceed magnitude 10. The clips were in fact taken from a documentary about a devastating quake that struck Japan in March 2011.

"Sign of Jesus second coming," reads a Facebook reel posted on August 29.

The video, which has more than 1.5 million views and 16,000 shares, shows various clips of buildings and cars shaking violently and debris crashing down to the ground.

In one clip, a man kneeling on the ground points to a crack in the tarmac, saying: "The ground is cracking open!"

"California earthquake magnitude 11.9," reads text superimposed on the video, next to an image of the California state flag and the date "24/08/23".

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), earthquakes cannot exceed magnitude 10 (archived link).

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded measured 9.5 in magnitude and struck Chile in 1960, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says (archived link).

The video was also shared on YouTube and Facebook, while various screenshots from the clip were posted here on Facebook.

"This is really a sign of Jesus Christ's second coming," one person commented on one of the posts.

Another wrote: "That's true, you can even see it in the video. The earthquake is so strong that it reached 11.9...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiLWh0dHBzOi8vZmFjdGNoZWNrLmFmcC5jb20v...