Fact Check

Mosque Survives Japan Earthquake

Photograph shows a mosque in Japan which remained standing after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami?

Published March 29, 2011

Claim:

Claim:   Photograph shows a mosque in Japan which remained standing after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.


REAL PHOTOGRAPH; INACCURATE DESCRIPTION


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, March 2011]


Mosque survives Japan disaster?

WOW… ALLAHU AKBAR...Masjid survives Japan Earthquake/Sunami !!!

THIS INCREDIBLE PICTURE WILL NEVER BE PUBLISHED IN THE 'WESTERN MEDIA'...(it will be overlooked).....only Muslims will understand & appreciate 'the power of 'Allah'(SWT)...



 

Origins:   We find fascination in buildings and objects that survive natural disasters while nearly everything around them has been destroyed, especially when those buildings and objects have particular religious significance (e.g., temples, Bibles, crosses) — as if some providential hand had reached down to specially protect them and prevent their destruction.

The photograph displayed above is of that nature, seemingly showing a mosque as one of the few buildings standing untouched after the devastating 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami which struck the eastern coast of the Japanese island of Honshu in March 2011. Although the description is accurate, the details are not: this picture did not originate in Japan in 2011; rather, it's a recirculation of a photograph showing a mosque standing amidst rubble in Teunom, Indonesia, after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami brought widespread destruction to that country in December 2004. The image below shows after-and-before pictures of that mosque:

Last updated:   29 March 2011


Sources:




    BBC News.   "Powell Shock at Aceh Destruction."

    5 January 2005.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.