Quake-damaged temple misidentified as sacred site in Myanmar's Yangon city

Published on April 1, 2025 at 11:30
2 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, Nyan Tun SHEIN, AFP Thailand, AFP Myanmar

A deadly earthquake on March 28 collapsed buildings in central Myanmar but rumours that the country's most sacred Buddhist site has crumbled are inaccurate. An AFP reporter confirmed the Shwedagon pagoda in the commercial hub Yangon has not been destroyed, and the false posts have misrepresented footage of another temple.

"Shwedagon Pagoda, the treasured pagoda in Myanmar, was seriously damaged. #Shwedagon #EarthquakeinMyanmar," reads a Thai-language Facebook post circulating in Thailand on March 28, 2025.

It includes a video that shows the spire of a golden pagoda collapsing from tremors.

Myanmar's ruling junta has said more than 2,000 people have been killed following the shallow 7.7 magnitude quake that devastated cities across the country. Central Mandalay city, the second biggest with 1.7 million inhabitants suffered some of the worst destruction (archived link).

The tremor flattened a building as far away as Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand, killing at least 20 people.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken March 31, 2025

Similar posts from other Thai users also claimed the video shows the revered Shwedagon pagoda that dominates Yangon's skyline but an AFP journalist saw the site on April 1 and confirmed it has not been damaged.

A reverse image search on Google using the video's keyframes found an identical TikTok video published on the day of the quake (archived link).

The Burmese caption reads in English as: "Zay Ti Gyi in Pindaya collapsed due to the earthquake at 1:51pm. I am deeply saddened by the crying of the people. Please kindly donate."

Screenshot comparison between the false Facebook post (L) and the TikTok post

AFP was able to confirm the video shows the Zay Ti Gyi temple in Pindaya in Shan state by comparing it with a picture of the site geotagged on Google Maps and showing the same spire.

Screenshot comparison between the TikTok video (L) and the Google Maps image

An AFP picture of the Shwedagon pagoda -- located 400 kilometres from the Zay Ti Gyi temple -- shows a different and much larger structure.

Devotees visit Shwedagon pagoda as Buddhists mark Buddha's Birthday, which falls on the Full Moon Day of Kasone, in Yangon on May 22, 2024. (AFP / Sai Aung MAIN)

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