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  • 2022-10-19 (xsd:date)
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  • Photo shows railway damaged by earthquake in New Zealand, not by scorching heat (en)
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  • A photo of a bendy railway track has been shared repeatedly on Facebook alongside a false claim it shows a track distorted by extreme heat. In fact, the photo shows a railway damaged by an earthquake in New Zealand in 2010. A spokesperson for New Zealand's state-run railway operator told AFP that the photo shows the aftermath of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake. The photo was shared here on Facebook on October 6, 2022. The post's Bengali-language caption translates to English as: A railway bent by the scorching sun. Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on October 19, 2022. An identical photo was shared on Facebook here and here alongside a similar claim. The photo also circulated in an English-language post here on the viral site 9GAG, and here alongside a similar claim in Vietnamese. However, the claim is false. A reverse image search on Google found a corresponding photo published in a report by the British tabloid The Sun on June 6, 2018. The photo's caption reads: This bendy railway track is the result of an earthquake, and not Photoshop. Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (left) and the photo published by The Sun (right): Screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the photo published by The Sun (R). A further keyword search on Google found the same photo published here on the website of The American Geophysical Union, an international non-profit scientific association. It is credited to Malcolm Teasdale of KiwiRail, the state-run railway operator in New Zealand. Simon Kilroy, senior communication advisor at KiwiRail, said: The photo was taken by KiwiRail's Malcolm Teasdale showing the aftermath of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake. The Canterbury region of New Zealand was struck by a large earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 on September 4, 2010. Following the earthquake, many thousands of people faced a massive clean-up operation as they rebuilt their homes and businesses. (en)
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