Social media users have shared a photo collage of damaged buildings and roads from previous earthquakes in Japan, falsely claiming the images show the impact of a 7.1-magnitude tremor that struck off the country’s south in August 2024. No major damage was reported following the recent earthquake, according to the Japanese authorities.
“Pray for Japan! / A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit southern Japan, which resulted in a tsunami that reached the western Miyazaki prefecture,” read the Tagalog-language caption of a Facebook post shared on August 12, 2024.
The post contains five photos of damaged buildings, a cracked road and the raging sea, and prompts the user to click for more pictures.
But once clicked, the post instead directs users to the online shopping platform Shopee.
The post racked up more than 680 shares. Other Facebook pages such as here, here and here also shared the photos with the same caption.
The claim surfaced days after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook Japan on August 8, 2024, though no major damage was reported and only relatively minor tsunami waves lashed the coast (archived link).
Japan recently lifted a warning that a “megaquake” potentially causing colossal damage and loss of life could strike (archived link).
The country sits on top of four major tectonic plates and experiences around 1,500 quakes every year, most of them minor.
But the photos shared on Facebook predate the August 8 tremor.
January 2024 quake
The photo at the top left of the collage shows a man in a camouflage uniform surrounded by debris fallen from damaged buildings.
A combination of reverse image and keyword searches found it was published by Komatsu Air Base of the Japanese air force on social media platform X (archived link).
The caption of the January 7, 2024 post says the images were shot as the force inspected earthquake damage in Wajima city in Japan’s Noto Peninsula.
The photo was also included in a disaster relief dispatch report published by Japan’s defence ministry the same day (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the photo published by the Komatsu Air Base (right):
The Noto Peninsula was hit by the 7.5-magnitude quake on January 1, with streets of mud, flattened houses and sunken boats in port communities such as Wajima and Suzu (archived link).
2022 Japan jolt
The photo which shows a man looking at what appears to be rows of concrete slabs on a road was taken from a different earthquake in Japan more than two years ago.
A strong offshore earthquake struck Oita and Miyazaki prefectures in southern Japan on January 22, 2022 but there was no major damage reported (archived link).
Based on reverse image searches, the image was published by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun on January 23, 2022 and was taken by to photographer Yoshiko Hasebe (archived link).
The caption said it shows a wall of a house that collapsed in Oita as a result of the earthquake.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the photo published by Yomiuri Shimbun (right):
The picture at the bottom left of the collage, which shows a collapsed gate with debris and rubble scattered on the street, was credited to Kyodo News on January 22, 2022 (archived link). The caption says it was taken in Oita following the earthquake.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the Kyodo News photo (right):
The photo of the road with fissures was taken during the New Year’s Day quake in 2024, while the picture of the raging waves was shot in the aftermath of a tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011, according to earlier debunks here and here.
AFP has previously fact-checked misinformation on the recent Japan earthquake here and here.
