The post racked up more than 680 shares.<\/span> Other Facebook pages such as here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a> also shared the photos with the same caption.<\/p>\n The claim surfaced days after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake\u00a0shook<\/a> Japan on August 8, 2024, though no major damage was reported and only relatively minor tsunami waves lashed the coast<\/span> (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Japan recently lifted<\/a> a warning that a “megaquake” potentially causing colossal damage and loss of life could strike (archived link<\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The country sits on top of four major tectonic plates and experiences around 1,500 quakes every year, most of them minor.<\/p>\n But the photos shared on Facebook predate the August 8 tremor.<\/p>\n The photo at the top left of the collage<\/span> shows a man in a camouflage uniform surrounded by debris fallen from damaged buildings.<\/p>\n A combination of reverse image and keyword searches found it was published<\/a>\u00a0by Komatsu Air Base of the Japanese air force on social media platform X<\/span>\u00a0(archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The\u00a0caption<\/span> of the January 7, 2024 post says the images were shot as the force inspected earthquake damage in Wajima city in Japan’s Noto Peninsula.<\/p>\n The photo was also included <\/span>in a disaster relief dispatch report<\/span><\/a> published by Japan’s defence ministry the same day (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the photo published by the Komatsu Air Base (right):<\/p>\nJanuary 2024 quake<\/span><\/h3>\n