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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

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Photo showing an 1895 car accident involving the only two cars in the US state of Ohio

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photo said to show a 1895 crash between the only two cars in Ohio. FACTLY reports that it traced the image to an accident in Boston’s Back Bay in March 1932, photographed by Leslie Jones. That location, date and photographer contradict the claim’s identification of the image as an 1895 Ohio accident. [Supported by the cited source excerpts; no citation markers are used in public prose.]

ஃபேக்ட் கிரஸண்டோDisasters & emergencies

Claim: 2021 dated andhra video being shared as telangana flood visuals

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a video shared in July 2022 as showing a helicopter rescue of people stranded in a JCB during flooding in Telangana. It says Polimer News posted the footage on July 14, 2022, and V News27 posted it the next day, attributing the incident to flooding in the Godavari River and a rescue in Mancherial district. The review’s central question was whether the footage actually showed that event or an older one. [S1: “இந்த வீடியோவை Polimer News என்ற ஃபேஸ்புக் பக்கம் 2022 ஜூலை 14ம் தேதி வெளியிட்டுள்ளது.”; S1: “அதில் கோதாவரி ஆற்றில் ஏற்பட்ட வெள்ளம் காரணமாக மஞ்செரியல் மாவட்டத்தில் ஜேசிபி இயந்திரத்தில் சென்ற இரண்டு பேர் வெள்ளத்தில் மாட்டிக்கொண்டனர்.”] To check the video’s provenance, the investigators converted a frame into an image and used reverse-image search. They found that similar footage had appeared in media coverage in July 2022 and, further back, in 2021. Because those early results appeared to show different locations, they continued searching rather than treating them as conclusive. A YouTube search using different keywords then located the same video, uploaded in November 2021 with a description identifying it as a rescue after flooding caused by a breach in the Annamayya reservoir project in Andhra Pradesh. [S1: “வீடியோ காட்சியை புகைப்படமாக மாற்றி ரிவர்ஸ் இமேஜ் தேடலில் பதிவேற்றித் தேடினோம்.”; S1: “நாம் ஆய்வுக்கு எடுத்துக்கொண்ட அதே வீடியோ 2021 நவம்பர் மாதம் யூடியூபில் பதிவேற்றம் செய்யப்பட்டிருப்பது தெரிந்தது.”] The review also points to Indian Air Force material about a helicopter rescue in floodwaters on the Chitravathi River in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh. On that combined basis, it concludes that the footage was from the November 2021 Andhra Pradesh rescue, not the 2022 Telangana flooding with which it was shared. The key distinction is the video’s provenance: the review says the same footage was found in a 2021 upload and links the rescue to the Andhra Pradesh incident. [S1: “இந்திய விமானப்படை இந்த மீட்பு சம்பவத்தின் புகைப்படம் மற்றும் வீடியோவை ட்விட்டரில் வெளியிட்டிருந்தது தெரிந்தது.”; S1: “கடந்த 2021ம் ஆண்டு நம்பர் மாதம் ஆந்திர மாநிலத்தில் நடந்த மீட்பு சம்பவத்தின் வீடியோவை, 2022 ஜூலையில் தெலங்கானாவில் ஏற்பட்ட வெள்ளத்தில் சிக்கிய ஜேசிபி என்று தவறான தகவல் சேர்த்துப் பகிர்ந்திருப்பது உறுதியாகிறது.”]

Fact CrescendoDisasters & emergencies

नासिक सापुतारा मार्ग में टूटा पहाड़ मूसलाधार हो रही बारिश से सापुतारा में गिरी चट्टान। बड़ा हादसा होते होते बचा नासिक में 72 घंटो से हो रही भारी बारिश से नासिक सापुतारा में पहाड़ गिरने से नासिक सापुतारा मार्ग बंद।

Publisher’s rating: False

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video shows army personnel forming a human chain to rescue people from floods in Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan)

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video said to show army personnel forming a human chain to rescue flood-stranded people in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. FACTLY’s review says the video instead shows an older incident in Nainital, Uttarakhand, and concludes that it is not related to Sri Ganganagar. To investigate, the review reports that it ran screenshots from the video through Google Reverse Image Search. It found similar videos, including the same video posted by DNA’s official Twitter account in October 2021 with a description identifying the rescue as taking place in Nainital. The review also says other news agencies reported that the incident was in Nainital. As additional location evidence, FACTLY compared visible surroundings in the video with Google Street View images of Nainital and reported that they were similar. It separately notes that news agencies had recently reported army deployment for rescue operations in Sri Ganganagar. That separate reporting does not establish that this particular video was filmed there: the review’s identification of the video links it to Nainital instead.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video of a couple on two-wheeler falling into a drain is from Siliguri, West Bengal

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video showing a couple riding a two-wheeler into a drain, shared as footage of an incident in Siliguri, West Bengal. FACTLY’s review identifies the footage with an incident in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, rather than Siliguri. It reports that on 18 June 2022, a couple visiting a hospital fell into an inundated drain; locals rescued them, and they sustained minor injuries. This directly contradicts the location attached to the video in the claim. (S1: “A couple fell into an inundated drain while visiting a hospital.”; “This incident took place in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on 18 June 2022.”) To check the claim, FACTLY says it searched the web using relevant keywords and found news reports about the same incident. It also refers to an interview with Dayanand Singh, who described how he and his wife, along with their bike, fell into the drain during a hospital visit and were helped out by nearby people. The review therefore connects the footage to the Aligarh event through reporting about the incident and Singh’s account, rather than supporting the claim that it shows an event in Siliguri. (S1: “We searched the web with relevant keywords and found several news articles reporting the same incident.”; “An interview with Dayanand Singh can be seen here.”)

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Video of two women being washed away by deadly waves on Mumbai’s Bandra beach

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video circulated as showing two women being swept away by waves at Mumbai’s Bandra beach. FACTLY says the same video was also shared with claims that the incident happened on a coast in Maharashtra or Gujarat. Its review concludes that the location attached to the footage was wrong: the video shows an incident at Salalah Al Mughsail beach in Oman, not Bandra. To check the video’s provenance, the review describes conducting a reverse image search on screenshots from it. That search found a video with similar visuals in a tweet posted by Al Arabiya on 12 July 2022. The review says Al Arabiya identified the footage as showing giant waves sweeping away members of a family at Mughsail beach in Oman. The review reports that the incident occurred on 10 July 2022, when high tides swept away eight members of an Indian expatriate family at Salalah Al Mughsail beach. It says five people reportedly died. The central distinction is therefore the location: the footage was linked to a real, deadly incident, but the review’s evidence places that incident in Oman rather than at Mumbai’s Bandra beach.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Incident of a man falling into a water pit and disappearing

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The review examined a social-media video appearing to show a man walking in the rain with an umbrella before falling into a water pit and disappearing. It reports that reverse-image searches using frames from the video led to the Instagram account Faisal_VFX. According to the review, the account’s creator, Faisal, originally posted the video on 08 September 2020. The review identifies him as an Indonesian VFX artist who makes scripted visual-effects videos for Instagram and YouTube. The review describes several features it considered evidence of editing. A frame-by-frame examination after the umbrella drops showed what appeared to be a single still being animated as the man submerged; his right hand remained in the same position across those frames. The review also noted that the umbrella appeared to be deliberately dropped, and that the person filming continued recording for 13 seconds after the fall without trying to help. The video was therefore not evidence of a real disappearance into a water pit. The review says Faisal’s scripted and animated video had been reposted by YouTube channels since 2020, often during monsoon seasons as a cautionary video. Its conclusion is that an edited video was being presented as an original incident.