Posts misleadingly link old earthquake photos to September 2023 Morocco disaster
- Published on September 15, 2023 at 11:20
- 4 min read
- By AFP Thailand
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One misleading Burmese-language post on September 10, 2023 has been shared more than 500 times.
The caption reads, in part: "It’s reported that thousands of people have already died in the earthquake that rocked Morocco yesterday. There might still be many missing under the rubble so the death toll may rise."
The post includes four photos, including two aerial shots of collapsed buildings and damaged ships washed up on a shore, as well as two pictures of people sleeping outdoors.
The claim circulated after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake -- Morocco's strongest ever -- struck near the southern tourist hub of Marrakesh on September 8, killing nearly 3,000 and injuring more than 5,600.
The number of people left without homes by the quake, which has devastated numerous entire villages in Morocco's Atlas mountain region, is not known.
Similar misleading posts shared the same set of photos on Facebook in Myanmar here, here and here, as well as in Thailand here and here.
Although two of the four photos are related to the Morocco earthquake, two are in fact old and from different countries.
Old, unrelated quake photos
A reverse image search on Google found the first photo in the misleading posts was published here on The Associated Press' (AP) website on February 9, 2023 (archived link).
The photo, titled "Turkey Syria Earthquake", is credited to journalist Ahmet Akpolat.
The caption reads, in part: "Aerial photo showing the destruction in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023."
More than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria died after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the two countries on February 6.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo from the misleading post (left), which has been flipped horizontally, and the AP photo (right):
The second photo of damaged ships shared in the misleading posts was also published by the AP.
A Google reverse image search found it on the news agency's website, published on March 12, 2011 -- a day after a powerful earthquake and tsunami devastated a large swathe of Japan's northeastern coast and triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant.
"Ships drifted by tsunami sit on the land near a port in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Saturday morning, March 12, 2011 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday," the caption reads.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo from the misleading post (left) and the AP photo (right):
Morocco earthquake photos
The other two photos shared in the misleading posts do show the aftermath of the Morocco earthquake.
The photo of people sleeping in stretchers outside a building has circulated alongside various news reports of the disaster, such as by Arab news outlet 7eNews on September 9 (archived link).
Lebanese media Bint Jbeil News published the photo on its Instagram page, saying it had circulated on social media and shows people evacuated from a hospital in Marrakesh over fears of aftershocks (archived link).
Below is a screenshot of the image shared by Bint Jbeil News:
The last photo is an AFP photo published on September 9, which can be seen here in the archives.
The caption states it shows residents taking shelter in a square in Marrakesh after the earthquake.
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