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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Disasters & emergencies fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about disasters & emergencies. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,259 published reviews in this topic

DoğrulaDisasters & emergencies

Görüntünün Hatay depreminde hasar gören binayı gösterdiği iddiası

Publisher’s rating: Yanlış

The claim concerned a photograph circulated after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake in Kırıkhan, Hatay, on 18 December 2022. The photograph was said to show a building damaged in that earthquake. The review reports that the image was not current: it had previously appeared on news websites on 9 December 2020, after an earthquake in Kurtalan, Siirt, on 3 December 2020. (S1: “18 Aralık 2022 akşam saatlerinde Hatay’ın Kırıkhan ilçesinde 4.8 büyüklüğünde deprem meydana geldi.”; “Söz konusu görsel daha önce 9 Aralık 2020 tarihinde farklı haber web sitelerinde paylaşılmış.”; “3 Aralık 2020 tarihinde Siirt’in Kurtalan ilçesinde meydana gelen deprem sonrasında çekildiği anlaşılıyor.”) To check the image, the review says it used reverse image search and compared the circulated photograph with a photograph of the building from a different angle published on a news site. It also points to a fire truck bearing the words “Siirt Belediyesi” in the circulated image. Together, the earlier publication, the matching building views, and the identifiable municipal vehicle support the conclusion that the photograph shows damage in Siirt, not damage from the later Hatay earthquake. (S1: “İddia görselini tersine görsel arama yöntemini kullanarak araştırdığımızda kısa sürede fotoğrafın güncel olmadığı bilgisine ulaşıyoruz.”; “İddiaya konu olan bina görseli ile haber sitesinde farklı bir açıdan çekilen bina görseli uyuyor.”; “Aynı görüntüde üzerinde Siirt Belediyesi yazan itfaiye aracı da fotoğrafın Hatay’da değil Siirt’te çekildiğini doğruluyor.”)

YouturnDisasters & emergencies

இரயில் நிலைய நடைமேடையில் நின்று கொண்டிருக்கும் போது செல்போன் மூலமாக மின்சாரம் இழுக்கப்பட்டு உயிர் சேதம். ஆகவே நடைமேடையில் மஞ்சள் நிற கோட்டிற்கு அருகில் செல்ல வேண்டாம்.

Publisher’s rating: Fake

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Visuals of Chennai’s Marina beach affected by Cyclone Mandous

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim is that a video showing seawater reaching roads at Chennai’s Marina Beach depicts conditions caused by the recent Cyclone Mandous. FACTLY’s review says the footage was indeed shot at Marina Beach, but it was not from the cyclone: it was recorded in November 2021. The location is therefore not the point of dispute; the footage’s timing and attribution are.

El Detector / Univision NoticiasDisasters & emergencies

“Luto Nacional. Acaba de ocurrir un terrible accidente aéreo de un avión de pasaje (sic). Hubo 1 solo superviviente. Aquí les dejo el link para que vean esta escalofriante tragedia”.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The post claimed that a passenger plane had just suffered a terrible crash and that only one person survived. Univision’s El Detector concluded that this account was false: the images attached to the post did not document a recent disaster matching the claim, and the linked video was unrelated to an airplane accident. The review says the link led to a YouTube channel offering beauty advice, not information about the alleged crash. The investigation examined the two images separately. A reverse-image search connected the first image to a satirical story about a passenger falling from a plane after ignoring safety instructions. The review traced that story through humor sites to an original German publication from December 2014, so the image was not evidence of a newly occurring crash. The second image did show an actual plane crash, but the review identified it as a 2021 accident in Waller County, Texas. The aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff; passengers evacuated before it caught fire, and the review reports that one child was injured. That is materially different from the post’s claim that only one person survived a recent passenger-plane disaster. The review also reports that a search limited to news from the preceding week found no reports of a catastrophe matching the post.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video showing visuals of a recent train accident

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video circulated as showing a recent train accident. FACTLY reports that the footage instead shows a collision at Kacheguda railway station in Hyderabad, Telangana, on 11 November 2019. The review identifies the trains as a Hyderabad MMTS service and the Kurnool–Secunderabad Intercity Express, making the footage about a specific, earlier accident rather than a recent one. The review’s conclusion is that the video was misrepresented as recent footage. To investigate the video’s origin, FACTLY says it performed a reverse image search on screenshots. That search located a video with similar visuals published by The New Indian Express on 12 November 2019, described as CCTV footage of the Hyderabad MMTS collision. The review also says that the accompanying news report placed the head-on crash at Kacheguda station on 11 November 2019. This earlier publication and event date provide the central evidence for identifying the footage as old. The review adds that several news websites reported the accident in 2019. It also cites a South Central Railway press release describing damage to coaches and passengers taken to hospital. These details support the identification of a real 2019 collision, but the supplied excerpt does not independently establish the precise route or date of the video’s original recording beyond the review’s account of its search and cited reporting.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Image of Japanese floating house designed to withstand earthquakes

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns an image presented as showing a Japanese house that rises during an earthquake. The review distinguishes the real technology from the image: it says Air Danshin Systems had been building houses using the system in Japan since 2005, but concludes that the viral image does not show one of those houses. In the described system, a house rests on a deflated air bag during ordinary conditions. When sensors detect shaking, they activate a compressor, which inflates the bag and raises the house slightly off its foundation. The review describes the lift as up to three centimetres, not a house floating high in the air without a foundation. The decisive issue is the image’s appearance. The review says it is a digitally created illustration and does not accurately portray the air-bag system. It also reports that Air Danshin’s director told USA TODAY there were 227 houses in Japan using the technology as of May 2021. Thus, the review treats the underlying technology as real while finding the image misleadingly presented as an example of it.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Recent video showing a woman adjusting a detached window panel inside a turbulence-hit Air India plane

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The post presented the video as recent footage of passengers in a turbulence-hit Air India aircraft flying from Delhi to Amritsar, with a woman adjusting a detached window panel. FACTLY’s review identifies the footage instead with an incident in April 2018 involving an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner flying from Amritsar to Delhi. It says the video shows cabin crew adjusting the panel after turbulence, not a recent event. To investigate the video’s provenance, the review says it reverse-image-searched screenshots and found a video with similar visuals published by NDTV on 22 April 2018. The review reports that NDTV described an Air India flight from Amritsar to Delhi experiencing severe turbulence and said three passengers were injured. Its description of the footage was that passengers were being assisted by cabin crew. The review also says the video was reportedly filmed by a passenger aboard the plane. The account places the flight after take-off from Amritsar on 19 April 2018. It says the turbulence lasted 10 to 15 minutes during the climb from 8,000 to 21,000 feet. The inner layer of a window panel reportedly fell off, while the outer layer remained intact; the review says there was no depressurisation. These details place the footage in the 2018 incident rather than a recent flight, despite the post’s framing.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

మోర్బీ వంతెన ఘటన భాదితులకు ప్రభుత్వం కేవలం సుమారు 5 కోట్ల రూపాయిలు పరిహారం ఇస్తే, ప్రధాని మోదీ మోర్బీ పర్యటనకు మాత్రం 30 కోట్ల రూపాయిలు ఖర్చు చేసినట్టు RTI సమాధానం ద్వారా తెలిసింది

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Visuals of a road accident caused by the recent earthquake in northwest Turkey

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns video of a multi-car crash said to have occurred during the 23 November 2022 earthquake in Turkey’s Düzce Province. FACTLY reports that the video instead shows a traffic accident involving 12 vehicles in Mecidiyeköy, in Istanbul’s Şişli district. It says the crash occurred on the D-100 highway at 1:20 a.m., while the earthquake struck Düzce at 4:08 a.m. the same day. Those times are central to the review: the accident happened about three hours before the earthquake, so the video cannot show a crash caused by that earthquake. The review also reports that the crash followed a driver moving rapidly toward Ankara and that eight people, including a baby, were reportedly injured. These details locate the incident in Istanbul and distinguish it from the Düzce earthquake. FACTLY describes using reverse image searches of screenshots from the circulated video. It says similar footage appeared in a 23 November 2022 video published by Ihlas News Agency, which identified it as a traffic accident on the E-5 Highway in Mecidiyeköy, Şişli. The review further says Turkey’s Police Service confirmed the earthquake’s magnitude and 4:08 a.m. time. Together, the reported footage provenance and the separate incident times support the review’s conclusion that the video was misattributed.