Were the houses shown in this video engulfed by the tsunami on New Year's Day 2024 in Noto, Japan? No, that's not true: The images used in this claim are from the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on January 1, 2024. The captions in the video (translated from Japanese to English by Lead Stories staff) read:
Earthquake intensity 7. Ishikawa prefecture on the first day of 2024.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jan 3 12:26:00 2024 UTC)
A Google Lens reverse image search (archived here) revealed that the image in question, captured at the Tarou Kanko Hotel in Taro district, Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture on March 11, 2011, depicts the devastating moment when the tsunami breached a 10-meter-high (32-foot) seawall, engulfing the city in one sweep. This information is from an article on nikkei.com (archived here).
As of June 10, 2021, the Great East Japan Earthquake (archived here) had resulted in the loss of 15,900 lives, with an additional 2,525 individuals reported as missing, according to information from the National Police Agency (archived here).
The Noto Peninsula earthquake occurred on January 1, 2024, along the northeastern coastline of the Noto Peninsula, facing the Sea of Japan. According to a report (archived here), on January 8, 2024, from Ishikawa prefecture, there were 168 confirmed fatalities resulting from earthquake damage, with the number expected to rise. The specific casualties due to the tsunami have not been disclosed at the time of writing.
