Old photos falsely shared as aftermath of Afghanistan earthquake in June 2022
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 1, 2022 at 12:07
- 4 min read
- By Amy SOOD, AFP Indonesia
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"6.1 magnitude earthquake shakes Afghanistan. More than 1,000 people have died," reads an Indonesian-language Facebook post from June 23, shared more than 50 times.
"Photographs released by local Afghan media showed homes in the rubble, with the bodies of victims wrapped in blankets lying on the ground."
The post was shared days after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan's remote eastern border region on June 22, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 others.
The photos were also shared with similar claims on Facebook posts here, here and here.
However, the claim is false. These photos circulated online years before the earthquake in Afghanistan.
2015 South Asia earthquake
A reverse image search and keyword searches on Google found that the first three photos were taken after a powerful earthquake struck and killed more than 360 people in Pakistan and Afghanistan in October 2015.
The epicentre of the quake on October 26, 2015, was located in the remote Afghan province of Badakhshan, AFP reported.
The first image was published here by Reuters news agency on October 26, 2015.
The photo's caption reads: "A man carries a boy, who was injured in an earthquake, at the Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan October 26, 2015.
"A powerful earthquake struck a remote area of northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, shaking the capital Kabul, as shockwaves were felt in northern India and in Pakistan's capital, where hundreds of people ran out of buildings as the ground rolled beneath them."
The second photo was published on the Associated Press (AP) Images website here on October 26, 2015.
The photo's caption reads: "People injured from an earthquake receive treatment outside the Ayub Medical Hospital in Abbotabad, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 26, 2015.
"One of Afghanistan’s most isolated and poverty-stricken regions was hit by a massive earthquake on Monday that reverberated across Asia, shaking buildings from Kabul to New Delhi, cutting power and communications, and killing almost 200 people, mostly in the remote mountain regions near the Afghan-Pakistan border."
The third photo was published by Reuters here on October 26, 2015.
The photo's caption reads in part: "Residents walk past the rubble of a house after it was damaged by an earthquake in Mingora, Swat, Pakistan, October 26, 2015."
Below are screenshot comparisons of the first three images in the misleading post (left) and the genuine photos published by Reuters and AP (right):
2009 Italian quake
A reverse image search and keyword searches found the fourth image published here on stock photo website Pixabay.
The photo, which was published on Pixabay on September 13, 2016, was credited to an Italian photographer named Angelo Giordano.
Giordano said that he snapped the picture on April 14, 2009.
"I took the photo in the hamlet of Oona in the province of L'Aquila in Italy a few days after the earthquake that hit the area on April 6, 2009," he told AFP.
The 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck L'Aquila on April 6, 2009 killed more than 300 people and injured another 1,600, AFP reported at the time.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the fourth photo in the misleading post (left) and the genuine photo on Pixabay (right):
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