Photo shows earthquake in Japan in 2024, not from recent Russian jolt

Published on July 31, 2025 at 11:29
3 min read
By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines

Social media users shared an old photo showing massive cracks on the ground falsely claiming it was taken in Russia after one of the strongest earthquakes recorded rattled the country's sparsely populated Far East on July 30. The original picture was in fact taken from the New Year's Day quake in Japan in 2024.

"Let's pray for Russia earthquake. The earthquake in their area was very strong, 8.7. Poor little children," reads a Facebook post written in a combination of Visayan and English and was shared on July 30, 2025.

It also shares a photo of a group of people congregating in an area with the ground severely damaged.

Screenshot of the false post taken on July 31, 2024, with the red X mark added by AFP

Several other users on Facebook shared the same claim the day a magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia's remote Kamchatka peninsula and was one of the 10 biggest recorded, according to the US Geological Survey (archived link).

More than a dozen nations -- from Japan to the United States to Ecuador -- warned citizens to stay away from coastal regions, but later said they could return after fears of a catastrophe were not realised (archived link).

Russia also lifted the alert after the quake and tsunami spared the sparsely populated far east from casualties and major damage (archived link).

The circulating photo, however, shows a different quake.

Reverse image searches on Google led to a news report that Japanese news agency Kyodo News published on January 2, 2024 (archived link).

The photo's caption indicates that it was taken in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, after a strong earthquake struck central Japan on New Year's Day.

Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the 2024 photo published by Kyodo News

It was Japan's deadliest earthquake in over a decade, claiming nearly 470 lives (archived link).

Around half the victims were killed in the disaster itself, which brought tsunami waves and sparked a huge fire in Wajima's city centre, burning down a historic market.

The rest perished later, as hundreds of aftershocks and cold weather compounded stress for survivors, including 40,000 people -- many elderly -- evacuated to shelters in school gyms and community centres.

Other news outlets such as The Los Angeles Times and France24 also published the same photo on January 1, 2024 (archived here and here).

Subsequent keyword searches on Google geolocated the photo to Wajima Junior High School in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture (archived link).

A Google Maps street view image of the school shows the identical grey building from the false posts.

Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the Google Maps Street View of Wajima Junior High School

AFP has repeatedly debunked misinformation triggered by disasters such as earthquakes.

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