A strong 7.4-magnitude quake struck eastern Indonesia in early April, but photos of fallen buildings that circulated online in the aftermath are from past tremors in the archipelago. The pictures were published by major news agencies in 2018, 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n
“The situation in Indonesia after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck this morning,” reads part of the Burmese-language Facebook post<\/a>\u00a0on April 2, 2026.<\/p>\n It features three photos of buildings reduced to rubble.<\/p>\n Screenshot of false Facebook post taken on April 13, 2026, with a red X added by AFP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The posts surfaced after a major 7.4-magnitude quake<\/a> struck off the coast of Kota Ternate<\/a> in eastern Indonesia during the early hours of April 2, 2026, killing one person under a collapsed building (archived\u00a0here<\/a> and\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n The shallow earthquake triggered waves up to 75 centimetres (2.5 feet) high in places and prompted a tsunami warning that was subsequently lifted.<\/p>\n Similar posts<\/a> sharing the same pictures surfaced after the quake on\u00a0Facebook<\/a> and\u00a0TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the pictures depict the aftermath of earthquakes years ago.<\/p>\n A combination of reverse image<\/a> and\u00a0keyword searches<\/a> on Google found the first image corresponds to a wider photo<\/a> published by US news agency The Associated Press on January 15, 2021\u00a0(archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n “Residents inspect earthquake-damaged buildings in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021,” reads part of the photo caption.<\/p>\n