Pictures show cat rescued after 2024 earthquake in Taiwan, not in Thailand

Published on April 10, 2025 at 04:13
Updated on April 11, 2025 at 05:44
2 min read
By AFP Thailand

After a 7.7-magnitude quake that struck Myanmar in late March killed thousands of people and toppled a building in neighbouring Thailand, images circulated on social media falsely claiming they showed a cat freed from the flattened skyscraper in the Thai capital. The pictures were in fact taken after a jolt that hit Taiwan in April 2024.

"A cat getting rescued from the Bangkok collapsed building," reads the Burmese-language Facebook post published on March 29, 2025.

The post shares images of an orange cat trapped in debris rescued by a man in protective gear. It was shared more than 900 times on Facebook.

Screenshot taken on April 8, 2025 of the false post

A skyscraper collapsed and killed dozens of construction workers in Thailand after the devastating earthquake hit on March 28.

The ruling military junta in Myanmar also said April 8 that the jolt killed more than 3,600 people in the country (archived link).

Multiple Facebook users in Myanmar shared the same claim.

Rescue workers told AFP a cat was found during operations at the collapsed building in Bangkok, but the pictures were actually taken after an earthquake struck Hualien in eastern Taiwan in April 2024.

A reverse image search on Google found the first photo published on April 13, 2024 in a report by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) on attempts to rescue the feline from the Uranus building in the city (archived link).

The CNA report also said the owner died trying to rescue her cat.

Screenshot comparison of the picture as seen in the false post (L) and on CNA's website

A magnitude-7.4 earthquake left the glass-fronted Uranus building tilting precariously, becoming a symbol of Taiwan's strongest quake in 25 years (archived link).

The second photo was featured in an article about the same cat rescue on the same day by Taiwanese news outlet the Liberty Times (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the photo from the false post (L) and from the Liberty Times

A similar video was published by local outlet Formosa TV, capturing the moment when the cat was rescued and taken to a veterinarian for treatment (archived link).

AFP has fact-checked multiple misrepresented visuals linked to the Myanmar earthquake.

April 10, 2025This article was updated to add additional details.

April 10, 2025 This article was updated to add additional details.

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