Old Stock Image of a Dog Shared After Earthquake in Turkey and Syria

The picture could be traced back to at least October 2018 and is not recent, as claimed.

A picture of a dog sitting next to a person's hand, who seems to be trapped under rubble, is being shared in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria on Monday, 6 February. So far, the death toll has crossed 4,000.

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

What is the truth?: While the earthquake has caused large-scale destruction in both the countries with over 16,000 injured in Turkey and over 2,000 in Syria. This image could be traced back to at least October 2018.

How did we find out?: A simple reverse image search led us to the viral picture uploaded on Alamy, a stock image website.

• The image was uploaded on 18 October 2018.

• It carried a caption that said, "Dog looking for injured people in ruins after earthquake."

• The picture was credited to one Jaroslav Noska.

• The same picture is also available on Shutterstock, where the contributor is named 'Noska Photo' with Czech Republic as their location.

What happened in Turkey?: An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 rattled parts of Turkey and its neighbouring countries on 6 February. This has reportedly resulted in the death of more than 4,000 people.

Conclusion: While we could not independently verify the location of the image, it is clear that the image is old and unrelated to the recent earthquake in Turkey.

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