Old Japan tsunami photos falsely linked to August 2024 quake
- Published on August 12, 2024 at 11:14
- 3 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
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"Pray for Japan! A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japan, triggering a tsunami that has reached western Miyazaki prefecture," read an English-language Facebook post.
The post contained a collage of two pictures showing tsunami waves swallowing houses and cars and capsizing boats. The collage's text overlay also said locals have been warned of a "megaquake".
The post has been shared over 4,500 times since it was published on August 10.
The photos were also shared alongside similar false claims by social media users from the Philippines, Japan, the United States and India.
The posts surfaced after a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook southern Japan on August 8 but no major damage was reported.
Minor tsunami waves of only 50cm, 20cm, and 10cm were confirmed to have hit some places, including the port of Miyazaki, more than an hour after the quake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The agency said the country should prepare for a possible "megaquake" one day that could kill hundreds of thousands of people -- although they stressed the warning does not mean a colossal tremor was imminent.
Old pictures
A reverse image search on Google found the top photo was from an old article from National Geographic titled "The Calm Before the Wave" (archived link).
The article's website version said it originally appeared in the magazine's February 2012 issue.
"Japan Tsunami: More than 1,500 people died last March in Rikuzentakata, one of several towns eradicated by the tsunami," the photo's caption partly said.
Archived pages of National Geographic's 2012 magazine collection on the Wayback Machine website confirmed the top photo was published in February of that year and was credited to photographer Tamon Suzuki.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the National Geographic photo (right):
The bottom photo was published by the Reuters news agency on March 11, 2014 (archived link).
It was part of a series of images showing the first moments when the tsunami hit Japan in 2011.
"A wave approaches Miyako City from the Heigawa estuary in Iwate Prefecture after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck the area, March 11, 2011," the photo's caption wrote.
The picture was credited to the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the photo published by Reuters (right):
AFP also published a photo of tsunami waves in Miyako from a slightly different angle.
In 2011, a colossal 9.0-magnitude undersea quake off northeastern Japan triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.
AFP has repeatedly debunked photos and videos of the 2011 Japan quake shared with false claims here.
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