Western Colombia is reeling after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 270 people, caused extensive damage, and left search teams still looking for survivors.
Researchers say the quake came from the region's natural tectonic activity, not from anything people did.
Here's what to know
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Aug. 10 earthquake resulted mainly from "strike-slip faulting," a process in which neighboring pieces of Earth's crust move sideways past each other.
The quake originated in Colombia's Pacific region, which sits along the Ring of Fire, an area known for frequent seismic activity, the Associated Press reported.
A familiar online rumor resurfaced, alleging that the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, a research facility in Alaska, was responsible. Scientists say there is no evidence to support that claim.
"No human endeavor caused this earthquake," said Suzan Van der Lee, a seismologist and professor at Northwestern University, per the AP.
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Van der Lee said that some human activities, including gas extraction and wastewater injection, have been tied to earthquakes, but those are typically smaller and shallower than the Colombia event, which occurred 68 miles below the surface.
She told the AP that it was at least 10 times deeper than any quake caused by humans.
More background
HAARP has been operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 2015 after it was developed by the U.S. military in the early 1990s.
The facility is used to study the upper atmosphere, including the thermosphere and ionosphere, by using high-frequency radio transmitters to heat small sections and then measuring the results.
Conspiracy theorists often focus on the Ionospheric Research Instrument, described by the AP as the world's most powerful high-frequency radio transmitter.
Scientists say it does nothing to make the allegation believable.
"I can confidently state that there is ZERO physical basis for radio-frequency transmissions having any effects on the occurrence of earthquakes," Dean Whitman, a geophysicist at Florida International University, told the AP.
He said the energy released by the Colombia quake was "millions of times larger than the energy produced by the HAARP array."
Whitman also said HAARP's equipment points into the atmosphere, not into Earth's crust where earthquakes begin, and that the radio waves it uses "involve a completely different set of physics."
What can be done?
The most pressing priority is humanitarian aid.
Search efforts for people buried in rubble are ongoing, and regional partners are supporting survivors and damaged communities.
"The Colombia earthquake occurred in a region with many natural earthquakes," Van der Lee said.
Whitman described claims that HAARP played a role as "ridiculous."
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