Fact-Check: Old Image From 2018 Shared as Recent Visuals of Taiwan Earthquake

This image is from the 2018 earthquake that hit Hualien in South Taiwan.

Fact-Check: The image is from the 2018 earthquake that hit Taiwan.

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

An image of a tilted building is being shared as visuals from the recent earthquake in Taiwan.

The image was shared by news organisation ET Now on 3 April.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is this true?: While this image is from Taiwan, it is not recent.

• The visual is from the Hualien earthquake in Taiwan in 2018.

How did we find out?: We ran a Google reverse image search on the same and came across a report by the Voice of America (VOA) which carried the same viral image. The report was from 7 Februrary 2018.

Here is a comparison between the two images. 

• A 6.4 magnitude earthquake had hit Hualien in Taiwan, killing 17 people and injured 300 people.

• Among the majorly damaged structures was a hospital.

• The report gave image credits to the Associated Press (AP).

Here is a close-up of the image credits. 

• We undertook a relevant keyword search on the AP newsroom editorial photo archives and came across similar images.

• Both these images were dated 7 Februrary 2018. They images were described as a residential building that collapsed on its first floor after an earthquake hit Hualien, southern Taiwan.

Here is a link to the image. 

Here is a link to the image. 

Conclusion: Clearly, an old image is being shared as recent visuals of the earthquake in Taiwan.

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