You must have seen two images of a dog walking among debris on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It showed a dog trying to save its owner buried in ruins after an earthquake hit Izmir, Turkey. The claim is misleading. The photos were previously published on a stock photo website. The photos show a dog searching for quake victims in 2018 in Turkey is the real story behind it.
The images were among five photos posted on Facebook on October 31, 2020.
The first image is a photo montage of two dogs – one with a blue collar and the other with a black collar – among debris. The second image and third image shows the same dogs in the photo montage. The fourth image shows people standing among collapsed buildings and the fifth image shows people walking among the ruins.
The Indonesian-language post translates to English partly says: “#PrayForTurkey
“During a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Izmir Turkey. Photo of a Dog Trying to Save its Master Buried Under the Rubble Becomes Viral.”
A powerful 7.0-magnitude quake hit Turkey on October 30, 2020, killing at least 111 people. The resort city of Izmir saw the most severe damage, as AFP reported.
The same pictures were also shared on Facebook, Instagram, and on Twitter alongside a similar claim.
Pictures of the dog with a similar claim in English and Spanish shared tens of thousands of times.
The claim, however, is misleading.
The dog images
A Google reverse image and keyword searches found the dog images in the misleading post are stock photos that were taken in 2018.
The picture of a dog with a blue-collar was published on the website of stock photography agency Alamy on October 18, 2018.
The photo’s caption reads, “Dog looking for injured people in ruins after the earthquake.”
Below is the screenshot comparison between the second photo in the misleading post (L) and Alamy’s photo (R).
The picture of a dog wearing a black collar was also published on Alamy’s website, with the same caption and same date.
Below is the screenshot comparison between the third photo in the misleading post (L) and Alamy’s photo (R).
It is not clear where the photo was taken. The photographer did not respond to requests for confirmation from AFP. So this is the story behind the photos of the dog after the quake in Turkey.
Images of people among the ruins
The fourth image of people standing among collapsed buildings was published on Getty Images’ website here on October 30, 2020. The photo is credited to Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s state-run news agency.
The photo’s caption reads, “Citizens are seen on a ruin of destroyed building right after a magnitude 6.6 quake shaking Turkey’s Aegean Sea coast, in Izmir, Turkey on October 30, 2020.”
Below is the screenshot comparison between the fourth photo in the misleading post (L) and Anadolu Agency’s photo (R).
The fifth image of people walking among the ruins was also published by Getty Images on October 30, 2020. The photo is credited to Anadolu Agency.
The photo’s caption reads: “A view of a quake damaged site right after a magnitude 6.6 quake shaking Turkey’s Aegean Sea coast, in Izmir, Turkey on October 30, 2020.”
Below is the screenshot comparison between the fifth photo in the misleading post (L) and Anadolu Agency’s photo (R):
Turkey’s latest earthquake in the Aegean Sea was the deadliest to hit Turkey in nearly a decade. It killed over 100 people.
Rescue workers pulled out a young girl from the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Izmir after over 90 hours. Meanwhile, some Indian extremists celebrated the earthquake with their hateful comments.
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