Fact Check: Colombia gym video falsely linked to earthquake in Xizang

A video showing people fleeing a shaking building was falsely shared on social media as footage of the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region in October. 

Fact Hunter traced the clip to a gym in Pereira, Colombia, filmed in August, nearly two months before the earthquake even happened.

While the misleading posts only racked up around 81,000 views, the tactic of repackaging old footage as breaking news is a growing concern.

Claim

On October 23, X user @tparon posted a video showing a building shaking as people evacuated down a staircase.

The post claimed it was the first video to emerge from China following the earthquake in Xizang, falsely stating it captured the moment the disaster struck.

However, an examination of the video's publication history, location details and the buildings visible in the footage found that it had no connection to the earthquake in China.

Fact Check

1. The video was published before the Xizang earthquake

The footage appeared on the Instagram account of Meta Gym, a fitness center in Colombia, as early as August 12, 2026, during a period of seismic activity in the country.

The gym's post identified the location as its Parque Industrial branch. The original video runs about 71 seconds, more than twice the length of the 34-second version later circulated on X.

Related footage also appeared on YouTube and Facebook that same day, providing further evidence that the clip predated the October earthquake.

2. The gym's sign matches a location in Colombia

Visual details provide another clue to its origin.

The building's facade displays a distinctive sign featuring the word "meta" in white, a yellow letter "B" and the word "GYM" on the right. The logo matches that of Meta Gym, a fitness center in Colombia.

The gym's August Instagram post showed the same damaged premises. Its official Facebook account also listed the address of its Parque Industrial branch, consistent with the location identified in the Instagram post.

A search for Meta Gym in Pereira on Google Maps led to the corresponding building in Google Street View. Its location near Parque Industrial matched the gym's listed address.

Further comparisons showed that the gym's sign, the building's exterior colors and a light-colored multi-storey building to its right were all consistent with images captured by Google Street View in 2024.

3. Daylight conditions contradict the claimed timing

The lighting in the footage also contradicts the claim that it showed the moment the Xizang earthquake struck.

According to monitoring data from the Xizang Earthquake Agency, the magnitude-7.0 earthquake occurred at 10:33 p.m. Beijing time on October 22.

The video, by contrast, clearly shows daylight conditions. Footage of the earthquake published by Euronews on October 23 showed nighttime conditions when the tremor occurred.

4. How the misleading video spread

The footage circulated in two main waves: first on August 12 and again on October 23.

After its initial publication by Meta Gym, the video resurfaced on X following the earthquake in Xizang. Accounts including @tparon and @RoyaNewsEnglish shared English-language posts linking it to the disaster, while @LaHoraMX and @larepublica_co circulated Spanish-language versions.

The misleading footage also appeared in Japanese- and Hindi-language posts, as well as on TikTok and Instagram. Spanish outlet Libertad Digital embedded the original misleading X post in its earthquake report, which brought the footage to a wider audience.

Fact Hunter found that X user @chematierra has since deleted the misleading video and issued a correction. However, several other accounts left their posts linking the footage to the earthquake in Xizang online.

5. Account analysis

The account that initially drew attention to the footage on October 23, @tparon, had approximately 15,500 followers on X.

Its profile describes its focus as breaking news, natural disasters, police scanner activity, flights, open-source intelligence and conflicts. It regularly shares updates about events around the world.

Background

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck Baqen County in Nagqu City, Xizang Autonomous Region, at 10:33 p.m. on October 22, at a depth of 10 kilometers.

The earthquake killed 16 people and injured 76, according to local government.

Verdict: out of context

The video is unrelated to the October 2026 Xizang earthquake. It had been publicly available since at least August 12 and showed an evacuation at Meta Gym's Parque Industrial branch in Pereira, Colombia.

The gym's branding, building and surrounding environment matched the location identified through its social media accounts and Google Street View. The daylight conditions captured in the footage also contradict the nighttime timing of the earthquake in China.

Conclusion

This case illustrates how old footage can be repackaged as breaking news during a major disaster and spread across platforms and languages.

When encountering videos claiming to show the scene of a recent disaster, viewers should check when the footage first appeared, compare identifiable landmarks and verify the location against reliable sources, rather than relying solely on captions or the images themselves.