Several Facebook (FB) pages passed off old photos as scenes from the magnitude 7.4 quake that struck Taiwan’s Hualien City yesterday. These posts are misleading. Half of the photos are from quakes that hit parts of Taiwan in 2018 and 2022.
Uploaded on April 3, the same day the strongest quake that hit Taiwan in 25 years struck, the posts featured ten photos showing quake-damaged infrastructure and landslides. The photo compilation carried the caption:
“PRAY FOR TAIWAN. Bilang ng mga patay, pinangangambahang mataas matapos tumama ang magnitude 7.5 na lindol sa Taiwan kaninang umaga. Nagdulot ito ng matinding pinsala tulad ng kaliwa’t kanang landslide, tsunami warning at pag guho ng mga imprastraktura (Number of casualties, feared to be high after a magnitude 7.5 quake hit Taiwan this morning. It caused great damage such as landslides left and right, tsunami warning and destruction of infrastructure). Local Media News.”
Three images that showed a derailed train in Dongli Station and a collapsed residential building in Yuli Town were all taken after the magnitude 6.9 Taiwan quake on Sept. 18, 2022.
Two photos also showed the 12-story Yun Men Tsui Ti building in Hualien City toppled by the magnitude 6.4 quake that jolted the country on Feb. 6, 2018.
The rest of the photos showed actual damage from the April 3 quake that left nine people dead, 800 injured and 50 missing according to latest reports.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology then issued a tsunami warning over the Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte and Isabela, which are located south of Taiwan, but has since canceled it as any effects “have largely passed.”
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office said that three Filipinos in Taiwan were injured, according to an Inquirer.net report.
In 2022, VERA Files Fact Check debunked a similar post that passed off old Taiwan quake photos as recent. (Read Old photos of earthquake-damaged buildings in Taiwan FALSELY passed off as new)
The posts by the FB pages like PinasKonek (created on Aug. 7, 2020 as Weather Philippines Update Today), Dyns kissfm 103.7 catarman (May 3, 2020) and Korek (June 13, 2021) collectively garnered 2,443 reactions, 291 comments and 3,556 shares.
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