Old photos misused in Myanmar earthquake aftermath
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake rattled Myanmar on March 28, killing thousands and affecting people as far away as Bangkok, Thailand, where a tall building under construction collapsed.
But a recent Facebook post that showed a collage of images purportedly connected to the disaster used photos that predated the earthquake.
“Earthquake in Thailand causes many buildings to collapse,” the March 28 post said. “There is a lot of damage.”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)
One of the images, of cars churning in a big black wave along a road, is from March 2011, when a tsunami flooded highways in Japan.
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Another, of cars submerged in mud, is from 2024, when heavy rain flooded Spain.
And the rest of the photos predate the earthquake by a few weeks, appearing in posts about deadly flooding in Argentina after more than a year’s worth of rain fell on Bahía Blanca in eight hours.
We rate claims these images are from Thailand after the March 28 earthquake in Myanmar False.
