‘Artificial earthquake’ conspiracy theory sweeps Japan after Kumamoto disaster

Claims that the recent magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck southwestern Japan was man-made have been spreading online, with experts dismissing the theory as unrealistic in technological, financial and practical terms.
On July 28, the day the deadly earthquake hit Kumamoto prefecture, a user on social media who has previously shared false claims about earthquakes wrote that the “seismic wave is of an explosion, not a quake” in a post that has had around 3 million views as of Wednesday.
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