Several mainstream news outlets passed off old images of broken houses, a derailed train and a rescue operation as recent, after a powerful earthquake rattled north-east Japan late Wednesday night.
The 7.4 magnitude tremor quake off the same region revived distressing memories of the Fukushima nuclear disaster 11 years ago. At least four people have died and tens of thousands were left without power on Thursday, according to Reuters.
BOOM found that the pictures have no connection with the recent earthquake in Japan. We found that the photos are old and were taken during previous earthquakes.
News outlets are supposed to specify if an old photo is used in a recent story by providing a 'file/representational photo' caption.
Old images were used by DD News, Zee Business, Northeast Today and the Mojo Story. The photos can be seen below.
Picture 1:
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Dainik Bhaskar journalist Aditya Tiwari and news outlet Mojo Story also posted the same photo claiming the same.
Picture 2:
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Picture 3:
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Fact Check
BOOM performed reverse image search to find out details about the pictures and found that the image are not connected to recent earthquake that happened in Japan. The photos are old and belong to different incidents.
Picture 1
A reverse image search led us to a The Japan Times report published on February 14, 2021 carrying the same image on its article. The caption with the photo reads as, "A toppled concrete wall is seen in the town of Kunimi, Fukushima Prefecture on Sunday morning, after a powerful earthquake hit the Tohoku region late Saturday."
Screenshot From The Japan Times Article
The picture credit has been given to Japanese news agency Kyodo. According to the news report, "The Meteorological Agency also said it believed the 11:07 p.m. quake was an aftershock of the megaquake that struck the area nearly 10 years ago to the date."
The same image can be found on Alamy, an international stock photo website mentioning the same details. The photo is credited to photographer BJ Warnick.
Picture 2
We found the photo on a The New York Times article published on April 17, 2016. The information mentioned with the image says, "Damaged houses in Mashiki, Japan, on Sunday. The mostly wooden homes in the town crumbled in two earthquakes that struck Thursday and Saturday."
Screenshot From The New York Times
The report stated that Ko Sasaki for The New York Times clicked the picture.
Picture 3
The picture can be found on Getty Images' website. The caption with the photo says, "Investigators and employees of railway company inspect the Shinkansen bullet train derailed by a 23 October strong earthquake in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, 24 October 2004. A series of powerful earthquakes including an initial tremor measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, left 23 people dead and injured more than 1,200."
Screenshot From Getty Images' Website
Japanese news agency Jiji Press clicked the photo as per the information available on the site.
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