A photo of a road damaged in an earthquake in January 2024 in Japan was shared repeatedly in a misleading context on social media after a magnitude 7.1 jolt hit the East Asian country in August. A Japanese government spokesperson said no disruptions to infrastructure — including electricity, water and telecommunications — were reported after the latest quake.
Sabah-based website Nabalu News shared the image in a news graphic published on Facebook on August 10.
“No Malaysians were affected by the earthquake in the island of Kyushu,” read part of the Malay-language text overlaid on the news graphic, which also had the date “August 9, 2024” on its top right.
The image showed a road with fissures and vehicles caught in the cracks.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that the Malaysian Embassy in Tokyo is actively coordinating efforts with the local authorities to obtain more information regarding the disaster that occurred at 4:33 pm local time,” read part of the Malay-language post.
The posts surfaced after a powerful 7.1-magnitude jolt hit southern Japan on August 8, leaving at least 15 people injured (archived link).
A government spokesperson said no disruptions to infrastructure, including electricity, water and telecommunications were recorded (archived link).
But the Japan Meteorological Agency said the country should brace for a potential “megaquake” in the future that could claim hundreds of thousands of lives, while emphasising that the warning did not suggest an enormous tremor is imminent.
The same photo was also shared on Nabalu News’ website, its Instagram account and social media platform X.
Other news sites in Indonesia and India also used the same photo here, here and here as they reported on the recent disaster.
But the photo was taken in the aftermath of an earthquake in Japan in January.
Past Japan quake
A reverse image search on Google led to a photo in the archives of The Associated Press (AP) news agency (archived link).
“Bystanders look at damage near Noto town in the Noto peninsula facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, following Monday’s deadly earthquake,” its caption read.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo used in the misleading posts (left) and the AP photo of the January 2024 jolt (right):
UK broadcaster Sky News also published a photo of the same road in January 2024 (archived link).
AFP has previously fact-checked posts falsely claiming to show images from the recent earthquake in Japan here.
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