Thai PBS Verify found the report in question on: Facebook
The team traced the origin of the news to a Facebook post by user named “Ang Angsuma Pilert” in the “World Disasters and Buddha’s Prophecy” group on February 23, 2026. It stated in the first paragraph that a false earthquake warning had been issued, while the rest of the post was attached with the original information referencing the GFZ.
The entire message of Ang Augsuma Pilert’s post is below:
Urgent! No earthquake warning was issued, as the original foreign source had undergone technical error.
A magnitude 6.5 Richter earthquake was reported 58 kilometers southeast of Mueang Loei, Loei province, #Thailand. The event reportedly occurred on Monday, February 23, 2026, at 00:07 AM (Thailand Local Time).
Source: The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) stated that a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Thailand near Mueang Loei district, Loei province.
16 minutes ago, the quake occurred shortly after midnight on Monday, February 23, 2026, at 00:07 AM local time, at a shallow depth of only 10 kilometers. The magnitude, intensity, and… (content truncated).
As of the latest monitoring, this misleading post has generated significant engagement, reaching over 562 interactions, 70 shares, and 72 comments.
The claim by the mentioned Facebook user was “true.”
As of the latest monitoring, this misleading post has generated significant engagement, reaching over 562 interactions, 70 shares, and 72 comments.
Did the warning really occur?
Thai PBS Verify began by cross-referencing the claims with the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences. GFZ is a German research institute focused on its geological missions and press relations. The GFZ’s official sister website, GEOFON, which monitors global earthquake activities over 14-day windows, showed no record of the alleged event in Thailand.
The GEOFON website displayed seismic monitoring results for the 14 days leading up to February 23, 2026.
However, Thai PBS Verify found further details in the satellite images, which led to another earthquake and volcano reporting website, “Volcano Discovery.” It turned out this website had a technical error and incorrectly claimed a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Mueang District, Loei, at 12:07 AM on February 23, 2026
Volcano Discovery’s Magnitude 6.5 alert for Loei on February 23, 2026, was later confirmed as a false report.
Was the earthquake in Thailand real?
Moreover, additional cross-referencing with the Earthquake Observation Division of the Thai Meteorological Department confirmed no seismic activity in Loei. Official logs for February 23 only recorded a magnitude 4.1 earthquake in the Andaman Islands, India, at 12:02 PM, and a magnitude 2.8 event in Vietnam at 07:04 AM.
Data from the Earthquake Observation Division, Thai Meteorological Department, as of February 23, 2026
What is the truth?
The Facebook post in question reported a technical malfunction on the Volcano Discovery website, which was then confused with the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The Thai Meteorological Department officially confirmed that no such earthquake occurred in Loei, and the event reported by the foreign site never occurred.
