No, images on a Facebook post do not show damage from an earthquake-hit Indonesian island
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 6, 2018 at 16:30
- 1 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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An August 6 Facebook post in Sundanese, a language spoken in Indonesia's West Java province, reads: “To all group members, please pray for our people in West Lombok. There has been a 7.0 [-magnitude] earthquake with a potential of tsunami. Hopefully God will bless them with strength, patience and safety”.
It was referring to the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked Lombok the previous day and killed at least 91 people.
The post appeared on a public Facebook group named Berita Garut dan Seputar Jabar (News about Garut and around West Java). Garut is a city in the province.
Many people who commented on the post appeared to believe the photos were genuine, stating simply: “Amen”.
One person wrote in the comments section: "Amen... Dear God, I hope all [people affected by the earthquake] accept this misfortune with patience and submission".
The first image was taken from a genuine tweet by Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency on August 5 about a tsunami alert in Lombok following the earthquake.
While a tsunami did not eventuate, the earthquake did destroy many buildings.
However the other two images in the Facebook post do not show the earthquake's aftermath, according to reverse image searches conducted by AFP.
The image showing a badly damaged road is in fact from an earthquake that rocked Chiang Rai in Thailand in May 2014.
The photo was included in a Voice Of America article on the disaster and has a watermark showing it belongs to the international news agency Reuters.
The photo of a destroyed house is from another earthquake that hit Lombok in July and killed 17 people. The original image was widely circulated, including by popular Indonesian new website Detik.
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