Graphic photo shows victims of China quake in 2008, not recent disaster

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on December 29, 2023 at 10:11
  • 2 min read
  • By Clara IP, AFP Hong Kong

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China's deadliest earthquake in nearly a decade struck the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Qinghai on December 18, killing 148 people. Shortly after the tremor, a photo was shared on Chinese social media platforms purportedly showing the body of an adult huddled around a dead child in the aftermath of the disaster. However, the picture was actually taken in 2008 following another earthquake in China's southwestern Sichuan province. 
Warning: This story contains graphic images

The image was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on December 22 and has since been viewed more than 460,000 times. It shows rescuers digging through earth around the two bodies.

"Adults used their bodies to protect the children, but the children were not spared in the end,” reads the post in simplified Chinese characters.

“I hope you can all look with compassion at those who have suffered so much... Those who passed away in the earthquake in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu," it says.

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A screenshot of the post on X, taken December 25

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A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai shortly before midnight on December 18, killing 148 people and injuring nearly 1,000 others (archived links here, here and here).

Chinese authorities have been racing to provide shelter from freezing winter temperatures for victims of the disaster, the country's deadliest quake since 2014 (archived link).

The photo of the bodies was also shared elsewhere on X including here and here alongside similar claims.

But it actually shows the aftermath of an earthquake in southwestern China back in 2008.

Sichuan province

AFP carried out a reverse image search on TinEye and found the same photo was uploaded to the archives of US news agency the Associated Press on September 1, 2008 (archived link).

“Rescuers found the bodies of a woman covering up her child in a collapsed house, following an earthquake hit Lixi town in Huili county in southwest China's Sichuan province Sunday Aug. 31, 2008,” reads a caption with this picture.

It was captured after a magnitude 6.1 quake hit Sichuan that month, causing dozens of deaths and injuring more than 500 people according to state news agency Xinhua.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo in the posts on X (left) and the picture from the Associated Press (right):

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The photo in the posts on X (left) alongside the picture from the Associated Press (right)

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China's western hinterland carries the scars of frequent seismic activity. In May 2008, another huge quake in Sichuan left more than 87,000 people dead or missing, including thousands of children.

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