AAP FACTCHECK – Social media posts have falsely linked the recent deadly earthquake in Vanuatu to a research facility located in Alaska.
Many users have suggested the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) had a role in the quake which struck the Pacific island nation on December 17, 2024.
But experts say the research facility cannot trigger natural disasters.
The magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred 30 kilometres off the coast of Efate, the main island of Vanuatu, causing damage across its capital city Port Vila.The National Disaster Management office confirmed nine deaths, with more than 200 people injured.
False claims about the earthquake being linked to HAARP appeared on social media in its aftermath.
“This is an attack on all human beings. It’s not climate change…. it’s called project HAARP. Everything is rigged Weaponing the weather worldwide…” one December 17 Facebook post says.
Other users shared footage of the quake’s damage alongside the captions “HA ar P” and “HAARP/CLOUD SEEDING“.
Because of its origin as a military research project and its scale, HAARP has long been the subject of conspiracy theories.
It was built as a joint project by the US Air Force and US Navy in 1993 with control transferred to the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2015.
Its main feature is a high-frequency transmitter used to study the ionosphere, which is the region of the earth’s atmosphere between roughly 80 and 650 kilometres above the surface.
Experts previously told AAP FactCheck that claims attempting to link HAARP to natural disasters are “nonsense” as the facility does not have the power to generate weather.
Toshi Nishimura, an ionospheric researcher at Boston University, previously told USA Today that neither the ionosphere nor radio waves can induce earthquakes naturally or artificially.
HAARP program manager Jessica Matthews also said the facility’s research equipment cannot create or amplify natural disasters.
Vanuatu sits along the Ring of Fire, a seismically active area that surrounds the Pacific Ocean, which makes the island nation prone to earthquakes and tremors.
AAP FactCheck has previously addressed claims about HAARP.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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