2019 Photo From Pakistan Passed Off As Aftermath of Afghanistan Earthquake

The 2019 earthquake hit parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan, leaving around 40 dead.

The photo was taken in 2019 and is not from Afghanistan.

(Source:Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

A photograph showing people standing on a badly cracked road is being shared on social media, claiming that it shows the current situation in Afghanistan, which was hit by a massive earthquake.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake rocked eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, 22 June, and left at least a 1,000 dead and 1,500 injured.

However, the claim is false. The Quint found that the photograph dates back to September 2019, and shows the impact of a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit parts of Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

CLAIM

The photograph is being shared to claim that it shows a road in Afghanistan, which was recently hit by an earthquake.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Archives of more posts with the same claim on social media can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We carried out a reverse image search on Google, and came across a news report by NDTV, dated 25 September 2019, that carried the same photo.

The report was published in 2019.

(Source: NDTV/Altered by The Quint)

According to the article, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake occurred near Mirpur city in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as well as Pakistan, which claimed 37 lives and left around 500 injured.

A report by Livemint also carried the same photograph, crediting it to news agency PTI.

It added that while the 10-kilometre deep quake was felt in most of Pakistan's Punjab province, Mirpur was the worst hit.

The photo was credited to PTI.

(Source: Livemint/Altered by The Quint)

We looked for the photo on PTI's photo archives, where it was uploaded on 24 September 2019, with the caption that mentioned that it showed a damaged road in PoK.

PTI mentioned that the incident was from PoK.

(Photo: PTI/Screenshot)

The Quint also carried a report on the quake in 2019, which can be read here.

WHAT HAPPENED IN AFGHANISTAN?

An earthquake measuring magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale hit eastern Afghanistan in the early hours on Wednesday leaving 1,000 dead and over 1,500 injured.

Paktika, a province in the southeastern part of the country, was the worst hit, and saw hundreds of houses destroyed in the quake, as per Afghan news portal TOLO News.

The outlet tweeted that another earthquake hit Paktika on Friday, 24 June, leaving five dead and 11 injured.

Clearly, the photo doesn't show the aftermath of the recent earthquakes in Afghanistan. It dates to September 2019, and shows roads that were damaged as a result of an earthquake that occurred in parts of PoK and Pakistan.

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