A catastrophic earthquake in Myanmar killed more than 2,000 curving roads and collapsed buildings in the country’s largest city, but a photo of a large crack on a street shared online actually showed earthquake damage in New Zealand. The streets of Christchurch opened after hitting a magnitude 6.3 tremor in 2011.
The photo was shared on Facebook on March 28 with the Myanmar language titled “The Taunggyi earthquake is so terrible”.
Located 167 km (104 miles) southeast of Sagaing, Taunggyi experienced a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on March 28, with curved roads and flat buildings extending to Bangkok (link to archive).
The junta, which was the ruling, said on March 31 that 2,056 people have been confirmed to be killed, more than 3,900 injured and 270 missing. At least 19 people died in neighbouring Thailand.
Screenshot of fake posts on Facebook, captured on March 31, 2025
The military said it was doing its best to respond to the disaster, but in recent days the military has carried out air strikes on armed groups opposing its rule, even as the country suffered from the disaster.
This photo shows a large crack appearing on the road elsewhere on Facebook and claims it shows destruction in Myanmar.
But this photo is from New Zealand in 2011.
Reverse Image Search on Google found the same photo (archive link) on the UK photo agent Alamy website released on March 20, 2011.
The photo caption reads: “In the huge earthquake, a large crack appeared in Christchurch.” Further description points out that the photo was taken on the Fitzgerald Street Bridge on the Avon River.
Screenshot comparison of photos from Fasle posts (Left0 to Alamy Photo
Christchurch was hit by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake on February 23, 2011, killing 185 people, causing billions of dollars in damages in the country (archive link).
This area can be seen on Google Maps Street View images in 2007 (Archive link):
Screenshots compare photos from Alamy (left) to Google Street View Photo, with the similarity being AFP.
