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Relatives of victims wait as rescuers work at the site of a collapsed under construction high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday morning, March 30, 2025. (AP) Relatives of victims wait as rescuers work at the site of a collapsed under construction high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday morning, March 30, 2025. (AP)

Relatives of victims wait as rescuers work at the site of a collapsed under construction high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday morning, March 30, 2025. (AP)

Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke April 3, 2025

Myanmar quake affected Thailand, but these photos predate that

If Your Time is short

  • One image showed a March 2011 tsunami in Japan.

  • Another showed 2024 flooding in Spain.

  • Others showed recent flooding in Argentina.

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.)

Featured Fact-check

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.

 

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More by Ciara O'Rourke

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Myanmar quake affected Thailand, but these photos predate that

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