A photo collage of two arches still standing amid destruction is being widely shared on social media.
Those sharing the photo collage claim that both images show the same arch escaping two calamities at separate instances in Japan. Japanese arches, also called Torii, are entrances to religious shrines in Japan. The first image shows an undamaged Torii amid the attack of the nuclear bomb in 1945, and the second image is purportedly the same arch as the only undamaged structure after the earthquake and tsunami that swept Japan in 2011.
The text on the first photo reads, “1945, after the dropping of an atomic bomb.” The text on the second image reads, “2011, after an earthquake and a tsunami.”
The collage is shared with the caption, “Wtf is that arch made of? (sic)”
Another post with the same claim can be seen here.
SouthCheck found that the photo collage doesn’t show the same arch.
We found both images uploaded by DailyMail UK on March 15, 2011. The image was shared with a caption that reads, “1945 left and 2011 right: Shinto shrines represent the spiritual connection between the people and the land. The traditional Toril entrance gates to these shrines were among the few structures to survive in Hiroshima 66 years ago and in the village of Otsuchi last Friday.” This means that one arch is from Hiroshima and the other is from Otsuchi.
Another website, Australian War Memorial, published the first image with the caption, “Street scene the day after the dropping of the atomic bomb, showing a torii.” The description said that the Torii is from Hiroshima, Japan.
However, a website mentioned that the viral image of the Tori is from Nagasaki.
When it comes to the second image, we found it uploaded by Property Cadualty 360, with the caption, “Houses and infrastructures devastated by earthquake and tsunami are seen in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Monday, March 14, 2011, three days after northeastern coastal towns were devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)”
Another website published the same image with a caption mentioning that the image was of Otsuchi, Japan.
We also found that the distance between Otsuchi and Hiroshima is around 1,300 km. Similarly, the distance between Otsuch and Nagasaki is 1,700 km.
Thus, we can ascertain what the viral images are from two different places, one from either Hiroshima or Nagasaki and the other from Otsuchi in Japan. Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
