Home / Disasters and Accidents / Quake Chaos: Fake Images Spread After Deadly Philippine Tremors
Quake Chaos: Fake Images Spread After Deadly Philippine Tremors
16 Oct
Summary
- Twin quakes strike Mindanao, Philippines, killing 8 and injuring hundreds
- Social media posts share old, unrelated images from past disasters
- Security footage of salon damage actually from 2025 Myanmar quake
On October 10, 2025, twin earthquakes measuring 7.4 and 6.7 in magnitude struck the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, killing 8 people and injuring hundreds. However, in the aftermath, social media posts began circulating old and unrelated images, falsely claiming they were from the recent disaster.
One viral Facebook video, viewed over 200,000 times, showed people huddling inside a beauty parlor as a powerful quake struck. The video was actually from a March 2025 earthquake in Myanmar, not the Philippines. Similarly, photos of destroyed buildings were taken during a 2013 earthquake and typhoon that hit the Philippines, not the recent tremors.
Fact-checking efforts revealed the deception behind these social media posts. The security footage from the Myanmar quake and the images of damage from 2013 were completely unrelated to the October 2025 earthquakes in Mindanao. As earthquakes remain a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, authorities continue to caution the public against the spread of misinformation during such disasters.
