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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

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaDisasters & emergencies

FACT CHECK: ත්‍රිකුණාමල වෙරලේ ගිලෙමින් සිටි විදේශකයින් 8 දෙනෙක් බේරාගත් ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ දුප්පත් දියණියක්?

Publisher’s rating: False

The post described a 12-year-old girl from a poor Tamil family in Trincomalee as the only child in her family and thanked her for rescuing eight foreigners who were drowning off the Trincomalee coast. The review investigated the story attached to the girl’s photograph, rather than treating the image alone as proof that the rescue happened. The investigators first looked for reports in Sri Lankan mainstream media and international media about a girl rescuing eight foreigners from the Trincomalee coast. They say they found no such report. They then used Google Reverse Image Search on the circulated photograph and traced it to Sunny Leone’s childhood, not to a girl identified as being from Trincomalee. The review further reports that Leone had provided the childhood photograph to the Times of India in 2019 for a World Children’s Day feature. It says she spoke about preferring activities associated with boys and playing hockey with other children in the streets. The review’s comparison of the circulated image with the childhood image supported its conclusion that they showed the same girl. It therefore concluded that the photograph was of Leone as a child, not evidence for the rescue story or the identity attributed to it.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Visuals showing helicopter crash that killed CDS General Bipin Rawat

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined three visuals circulated as showing the helicopter crash that killed India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, in Tamil Nadu: two videos and an image. It concluded that none depicted that fatal crash. The review also noted that no video of the crash landing had been reported, while a separate video reportedly filmed shortly before the crash had surfaced.

Fact CrescendoDisasters & emergencies

Claim: This chopper crash not related with bipin rawat

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a video circulating as footage of the helicopter crash in which Bipin Rawat died. It distinguishes that footage from the crash near Coonoor: the review reports that Rawat, his wife and fellow officers were aboard the helicopter that crashed there, and that Rawat and 11 others died at the scene. It says social media was also spreading multiple different videos as footage of Rawat’s final moments or of that crash, including the video under investigation. The review concludes that this particular video was not connected to Rawat’s fatal crash. To identify the footage, the review points to an earlier incident in Arunachal Pradesh. It says the video was actually recorded when an Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter crash-landed there in November 2021. The review reproduces an ANI post dated November 18 describing an Mi-17 crash-landing near a helipad in eastern Arunachal Pradesh and reporting that the two pilots and three crew members were safe, with minor injuries. This provenance supports the review’s conclusion that the video showed a different helicopter incident, rather than Rawat’s fatal crash.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaDisasters & emergencies

ගෑස් සිලින්ඩර් පිපිරීමේ අවධානම අවම කර ගැනීම සඳහා එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ ආරක්ෂණ උපදෙස් මාලාවක්!

Publisher’s rating: Explainer

The review examined a leaflet circulating on Facebook and WhatsApp that was presented as safety advice issued by the United Nations in Sri Lanka to help people avoid gas-cylinder explosions. The leaflet’s advice included keeping LPG cylinders upright, installing them at ground level in ventilated places, and leaving the area if a gas leak is detected. The review placed the post amid reports of gas-related incidents in Sri Lanka, while noting that the cause had not yet been confirmed: “තවමත් නිසියාකාරව මේ පිළබඳ තහවුරු වූ තොරතුරු නොමැති වීම හේතුවෙන් ජනතාව පසු වන්නේ ඒ පිළිබඳව විමසිල්ලෙන්.” The key question was not simply whether the leaflet existed, but whether it was issued as public guidance. Fact Crescendo says it asked an information officer at the UN in Sri Lanka. According to the review’s account of that response, the advice had been issued to inform the safety and health of staff at the UN’s local office, rather than as guidance for the general public: “මෙම උපදෙස් මාලාව නිකුත් කරනු ලැබුවේ මෙරට ශාඛාවේ තුළ සිටින සේවක මණ්ඩලයේ ආරක්ෂාව සහ සෞඛ්‍ය ගැන දැනුවත් කිරීම පමණක් බවත්”. The officer also reportedly advised the public to follow safety guidance issued by government authorities. Thus, the leaflet was not described as fabricated: the review reports that the UN had issued it, but for its own staff. Presenting it as a UN public advisory omitted that limited intended audience. The review also noted that, on November 29, the UN had published the advice under a safety-advisory theme, and that on December 1 a parliamentary advisory committee met at the University of Moratuwa to discuss the gas incidents; those details provide context but do not change the reported explanation of whom the leaflet was meant to guide.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Death toll of 2013 Uttarakhand floods stood at 25,000; The then Congress government started relief work only after four days ; Government paid 760 crores for removal of the corpses

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post under review made three related allegations about the June 2013 Uttarakhand floods: that 25,000 people died, that the Congress-led government began relief only after four days, and that the government paid ₹760 crore to remove corpses. FACTLY examined the allegations separately, drawing on a 2014 National Institute of Disaster Management report and dated government press releases for the casualty and response claims. For the alleged payment, it reports that it could not find news reports or official documents substantiating the amount. The NIDM figures cited in the review were 169 confirmed deaths and 4,021 people missing who were later presumed dead. Counting the missing as dead brings the total to about 5,000—not 25,000. On the timing of the response, the review cites Ministry of Defence and Prime Minister’s Office releases dated 18 June 2013: the Air Force had begun Operation Rahat, and the Prime Minister had contacted the Uttarakhand chief minister to offer assistance. It also says ITBP personnel acted before the army and air force. These cited actions are inconsistent with the allegation that relief began only after four days. The review further reports that the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi surveyed affected areas on 19 June and that ₹1,000 crore in relief funding and ex gratia assistance were announced. Those measures support the account of an early government response, although the review does not provide a complete operational timeline for every relief effort. On the ₹760 crore allegation, the review notes a contract to extract bodies but says it found no documentation supporting the claimed payment; its conclusion on that amount is therefore based on the absence of corroborating records it could locate, rather than a cited payment record disproving the figure.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Recent visuals of floods in Karachi city, Pakistan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a video shared as recent flooding in Karachi, Pakistan. Its investigation identified the footage as showing tsunami waves surging into Ishinomaki, Japan, during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake—not flooding in Karachi. The review says the video was shot from the rooftop of an Ishinomaki Gas Corporation Limited employee’s company building. [S1]

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaDisasters & emergencies

FACT CHECK: මාධ්‍ය හා සමාජ ජාලා හරහා හුවමාරු වන්නේ කින්නියාවල සිදුවූ පාරු අනතුරේ ඡායාරූපයක්ද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review investigates a photo circulated on social media and used by some websites in connection with the Kinniya ferry accident. The posts presented it as an image of that incident, which involved a ferry carrying preschool children in the Trincomalee area. The review’s central finding is that the circulated image was not from Kinniya: it showed a different ferry accident at the Horawala ferry crossing on the Bentara River. To check the image’s origin, the reviewers say they used Google Reverse Image Search. They report that it connected the photo to a ferry that struck a floating log near Horawala, and to an incident there in June 2016. The review also points to earlier reporting about that incident in Lankadeepa and says a similar image appeared on the Dinamina website in 2017, in a report about a replacement ferry being arranged for the sunken vessel. The review distinguishes the misattributed picture from images of the actual Kinniya ferry. It says it located photographs and video of that ferry through the Sri Lanka Navy’s Facebook page and mentions Lankadeepa coverage that included photographs of the real vessel. The reviewers suggest that similarities in the backgrounds, and the fact that both incidents involved a ferry overturning, may explain why the older image was used to represent the Kinniya accident. The evidence in the review therefore supports the conclusion that the circulated photo was an older image from the Bentara River incident, not a photograph of the Kinniya accident.