No, this claim is false. The videos showing "laser beams" in the sky were debunked by fact-checkers as digital manipulations. [
1]
Here is what the evidence shows:
- The "Laser" Videos are Fabricated: The viral footage circulating on social media is from a video originally uploaded months prior to the seismic event and recaptioned. The videos were mass-produced by an account documenting fictional or manipulated sky phenomena. [1]
- The Time of Day Disproves the Visuals: The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquake doublet struck Venezuela in the early evening (around 6:04 p.m. local time). Sunset in Caracas occurred at 6:52 p.m., meaning the quakes actually occurred in broad daylight, while the viral footage depicts a dark night sky. [1, 2]
- What "Earthquake Lights" Are: While strange flashes of light, glows, and balls of light do naturally occur before or during some major earthquakes, they are an entirely natural phenomenon known as Earthquake Lights (EQL). They occur when stressed rocks release electrical charges that ionize the air, and they do not look like military lasers or converging beams. [1, 2]
For a fact-check report and analysis of how these specific videos were manipulated and falsely linked to the disaster:
For context on the devastation and why the event was so strong, here is a look at the event through satellite imagery:
- View the extent of the damage reported by the BBC News Short.
----Source: Google Gemini