Image of monks clearing debris taken after 2010 China quake, not recent Tibet jolt

As rescue workers waded through rubble in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in China’s remote Tibet region in January 2025, a picture of Tibetan Buddhist monks clearing debris circulated in posts falsely linking it to the disaster. In fact, an AFP photographer took the picture following a quake that struck China’s Yushu county in April 2010.

The image appeared in a now-deleted January 8, 2025 post on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. The simplified Chinese caption read: “When disaster strikes, I wish only peace for all beings #Shigatse #Peace.”

The post surfaced one day after Tibet’s rural, high-altitude Tingri county was struck by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 126 people and injured 188 others. More than 3,600 houses collapsed due to the quake, according to Tibet’s Emergency Management Department (archived here).

Tingri is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shigatse, home to the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important spiritual figures in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama.

The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) measured the quake’s magnitude as 6.8, while the US Geological Survey reported it as 7.1.

Taiwanese website TNews included the picture in an article about the tremor. Similar posts in English, Nepali and Tibetan shared the same image.

However, an AFP photographer took the picture more than a decade ago.

A reverse image search, followed by keyword searches on Google, surfaced a full version of the photo published by American broadcaster NBC News on April 14, 2010 (archived here).

“Tibetan Buddhist monks clear debris while searching for survivors amid a collapsed apartment block in Jiegu, China on Friday,” reads the caption on the picture, credited to AFP photographer Frederic J. Brown.

A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Yushu region of the northwestern province of Qinghai, a predominantly Tibetan-inhabited region, on April 14, 2010. The quake flattened thousands of homes and left nearly 2,700 people dead and some 270 missing, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported at the time (archived link).

“Tibetan Buddhist monks clear debris while searching for survivors amid a collapsed apartment block in Jiegu, Yushu County on April 16, 2010,” reads the caption on AFP’s photo.

AFP has debunked misinformation about the Tibet earthquake here and here.