Photos show earthquake buildings in Myanmar, without proof of corruption in Bangladesh
A videotape, which eventually led to the removal of former Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina, shows a fire station damaged by earthquakes in Myanmar, contrary to posts claiming it was overthrown by the government corruption. Similar images of a fire hall in the central Myanmar city of Sagaing were shared in local news reports after the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake in late March 2025.
“The contractor said that after everyone bribed the construction money, the construction was run out. I considered this today after seeing this government building,” part of the Bengali title of the Bengali video May 28, 2025.
“As the pathways of corruption narrow, bribery officials are frustrated.”
The video shows a partially collapsed fire station with a broken fire truck parked below.
Screenshots of the screenshot were captured on June 30, 2025 and added the AFP's red X
The short video was also shared in a similar Facebook post ahead of the year's protest anniversary, weeks later, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government overturned the protests a few weeks later (archive link).
As many as 1,400 people were killed when the Hasina government launched a brutal campaign to silence protesters, according to the United Nations (link to archive).
The country has begun trials of senior figures in the Hasina government – as South Asian countries await key needs of several parties that the Provisional Government vows to be held by June 2026.
A court in Dhaka has issued an arrest warrant for Hasina, and the interim government has formally demanded her extradition from India – she fled several times after being overthrown.
However, the video circulating online was not filmed in Bangladesh and has nothing to do with the Graft allegations under Hasina.
Myanmar earthquake damage
Reverse image searches on Google using keyframes from the wrongly shared clip resulted in a YouTube video released on May 24, which was made by a channel called “2025 Sagaing Eartquake Archive” (archive link).
The video is titled “Damage to Sagan Fire Department, Sagon, Myanmar”.
The city of Sagaing is less than 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the center of the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar on March 28, killing nearly 3,800 people and destroying many homes and businesses (a link to archive).
Comparison of screenshots of error sharing clips (left) and YouTube videos (right)
Subsequent keyword searches found similar images of the catastrophic damaged fire station (archived here and here) in articles by Myanmar news media Irrawaddy and the BBC published in March.
The official Facebook page of Sagaing Fire District also posted the same photo on April 15 (archive link).
The fake shared clips also match the Google Maps photo from Sagaing Fire Department taken in December 2020 (Archive link).
AFP debunked other false claims from the unrest in Bangladesh.
