A 1906 illustration in The Washington Times posited what might happen if an earthquake struck D.C. (via Library of Congress)

April Fools’ jokes can be funny, except when they’re not. Today National Turk, a news website based in Turkey, ran a story claiming that D.C. had been leveled by a 8.7-magnitude earthquake and that a fire had broken out in the White House:

Washington was an earthquake magnitude 8.7 earthquake, the number of casualties is unknown, flames rise from the White House, President Obama was taken to NORAD.

The quake hit about 60 miles (100 km) southwest of Atlantic Ocean and at a depth of about six miles (10km) according to the US Geological Survey.Local time 03.45

“Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated,” the US center said in a statement. “It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter.”

Winston Reckhert, a geophysicist from the Atlantic Ocean Warning Centre said: “We have seen a small tsunami at Halifax Nova Scotia 100 miles south of the epicentre.

“The tsunami amplitude was 13cm which suggests there may be troublesome waves in the immediate area of the quake, but beyond that there is no hazard so we do not have a tsunami warning for anywhere else in the Atlantic”.

Emergency crews were alerted and the United States Army, Hospitals full of wounded people.

After a fire began in the White House, President Obama and his family were taken to NORAD

To make the story a little more credible, the National Turk used an image from the new thriller White House Down of the presidential mansion on fire. Thankfully, the outlet disclosed the joke at the bottom of the article, writing: “This is a April Fool thank you for your understanding!”