Photos show destruction from wildfires in Hawaii, not Greece
- Published on September 25, 2024 at 11:04
- 4 min read
- By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea
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"Greece devastated by major wildfires, nobody can stop global warming now," read Korean-language text overlaid on four images posted on the South Korean forum Naver Band on September 20, 2024.
The pictures, presented as a collage, show dozens of vehicles that appear to have been gutted by fires.
The same collage was also shared on DC Inside and Facebook.
Greece's national observatory said the Mediterranean country logged its hottest summer on record in 2024, following a season of heatwaves around the world that scientists said were intensified by human-driven climate change (archived link).
The country was also again hit by scores of wildfires, one of which burned through to the Athens suburbs in August, killing a woman trapped in a factory.
But none of the photos were taken in Greece; they show the destruction caused by wildfires that swept through the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023, killing more than 100 people (archived link).
Maui photos
A reverse image search on Google found the top-left photo of the collage circulating online in an article published by Australia's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on August 14, 2023 (archived link).
The photo -- credited to AP -- was used in an article headlined, "Burnt cars, empty streets: Hawaii wildfire aftermath seen from above".
According to the photo's caption in AP's archives, it was taken on August 13, 2023 in Lahaina, a historic town on the northwest coast of Maui (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison between the falsely shared photo (left) and the corresponding AP photo (right):
A separate reverse image search found the photo in the top-right of the collage was published by the US news organisation NPR on August 11, 2023 (archived link).
The NPR article is titled, "Hawaii wildfires: Photos show the destruction and devastation".
The photo, credited to Patrick T. Fallon and AFP, was captioned: "August 10: Destroyed cars show a part of the damage in Lahaina."
The photo can be seen in AFP's archives here.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the falsely shared photo (left)) and the corresponding AFP photo (right):
The bottom-left image was captured by AP photographer Rick Bowmer (archived link)
It was used in an article by Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper on August 13, 2023 (archived link).
"Burnt out cars line the sea walk after the wildfire on Aug. 11 in Lahaina, Hawaii," the caption read.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo in the false post (right) and the corresponding AP photo (right):
The final image in the falsely shared collage was used in a news article on the AP News website on August 11, 2023 (archived link).
Part of the photo's caption reads: "Wildfire wreckage is seen Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii." It was credited to "Tiffany Kidder Winn via AP".
Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo (left) and the corresponding photo used by AP (right):
AFP previously debunked false claims about the Hawaii wildfires here and here.
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