A video shared on Twitter purports to show damaged and destroyed buildings following an earthquake that struck New Zealand.

#earthquake #newzealand #BREAKING#BreakingNews#BreakingBad
New Zealand was shaken by the earthquake. An earthquake struck the #CarmadecIslands arare on Thursday morning. According to the United States Geological Survey #USGS, the earthquake measured 7.1 on the #Richterscale. pic.twitter.com/Dv0VqmbPaf

— Kaustuva Ranjan Gupta (@GuptaKaustuva) March 16, 2023

Verdict: False

The claim is false. The video shows the Feb. 6 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, according to The Guardian.

Fact Check:

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the Kermadec Islands in New Zealand on Mar. 16, according to Reuters. The earthquake follows a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck New Zealand back in February, the outlet reported in a previous article.

“New Zealand was shaken by the earthquake. An earthquake struck the #CarmadecIslands arare on Thursday morning. According to the United States Geological Survey #USGS, the earthquake measured 7.1 on the #Richterscale,” the Twitter video, viewed over 2,000 times, purports.

The claim is false. The video shows the Feb. 6 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, according to The Guardian. “Aerial footage shows earthquake aftermath in hard-hit Turkish region of Hatay,” the video’s title reads. (RELATED: Does This Photo Show The Aftermath Of The Recent Earthquake In Japan?)

“Buildings can be seen razed to the ground, with many others barely standing as rescue efforts continue. Hatay is one of the hardest hit parts of Turkey with aid and rescue teams arriving slowly in the region, fuelling anger against the government,” the video’s description indicates. The video was published to YouTube by the outlet on Feb. 9.

The purported video does not appear in any credible news reports about the Mar. 16 earthquake that struck New Zealand. Likewise, the video is neither referenced on the New Zealand Civil Defence National Emergency Management Agency’s website nor on its verified social media accounts.

The Feb. 6 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria killed 44,708 people across both countries, according to The Associated Press. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake and a 7.5-magnitude aftershock is believed to have caused $34.2 billion in physical damage, the World Bank estimated, Reuters reported.

Check Your Fact has contacted the New Zealand Civil Defence National Emergency Management Agency and Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received.