A video in which people appear taking selfies at the foot of a tsunami does not correspond to the event reported on the island of Tonga this Saturday that led to the circulation of a warning for states in the western United States such as California and Hawaii.
Although a video today on correspondent Philip Crowther’s Twitter account uploaded at about 9: 30 am identified the recording as one associated with the tsunami after the eruption of an underwater volcano on the island of Tonga in the South Pacific, in reality the images would have been previously taken in another demarcation.
One of the Twitter users who responded to the publication located the images, apparently recycled, in Indonesia. Another netizen assured that the video was taken more than a year ago.
In the audiovisual material, initially shared by the blogger Siraj Noorani, it is seen when the waves of a tsunami drag four people – a woman and three young people.
Two of the victims charge cell phones and try to take video selfies
“Tsunami in Tonga. Very happy that the boys in the video apparently survived. But also: what exactly was he doing to the tree?” Crowther shared next to the video that he later deleted.
The video, however, was replicated by other pages on social networks such as Instagram.
Waves of almost 4 feet were recorded in Nuku’alofa, capital of Tonga, the Australian Meteorological Service reported on Twitter.
The local authorities of Tonga, with some 71,000 population, have not reported casualties so far, although several areas of the country remain cut off after dozens of evacuations.
The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha underwater volcano ‘apai, located about 65 kilometers north of Tongatapu Island, recorded an eruption of about eight minutes around at 17.20 local time.
Due to the emergency, the authorities meteorological data in the United States warned of the risk of tsunamis for states such as California and Hawaii until before noon.
For the time being, no fatalities have been reported in the US
The eruption also generated small tsunami waves that are not threatening in the Caribbean basin , the US Tsunami Warning Service reported on its official website.
The waves ranged from 3 centimeters (0.1 feet) recorded in Isla Mujeres and Puerto Morelos (Mexico) to 000 centimeters (0.4 feet) measured on the island of Mona, in Puerto Rico (US territory), detailed the Service belonging to the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The entity explained that it is not necessary to take any measure because the size of the waves is not a cause for concern, and insisted that there is no tsunami threat in Puer to Rico, the US or British Virgin Islands.
(With information from the Efe agency)
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Images capture tsunami caused by the eruption of a volcano that hit the island of Tonga