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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.

3,262 published reviews in this topic

台灣事實查核中心Disasters & emergencies

網傳「澳大利亞巨大的野火導致動物死亡」動物照片？

Publisher’s rating: 部分錯誤

The Taiwan FactCheck Center examined a widely shared Facebook post presenting 27 animal photographs as images from the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires. It found that seven images did come from those fires, while 19 were taken from other events and one was a composite. The post therefore mixed authentic images with photographs that did not depict the claimed fires.

NewtralDisasters & emergencies

La explosión en una instalación china en Tarragona

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review concerns video shared as if it showed the explosion at IQOXE, an ethylene oxide chemical installation in Tarragona. It says the incident there occurred on a Tuesday and that the video began circulating shortly after news of the explosion, when information was still limited. The article distinguishes the Tarragona incident from the event actually shown in the footage. Newtral identifies the footage as showing an explosion at an industrial area in the port of Tianjin, northern China, in August 2015—not Tarragona. It reports that more than 170 people died and about 700 were injured in that disaster. The article says the video had been published by the BBC five years earlier and was recorded by a witness, according to the BBC’s account. The review also notes that, at the time of its report, the Tarragona explosion had left two people dead and eight injured. That detail provides context for the incident the footage was wrongly used to depict; it does not make the Tianjin video evidence of what happened in Tarragona.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Airplane stuck under the bridge, in Durgapur as the pilot mistook the motorway as the runway due to the heavy mist.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned an aircraft apparently stuck beneath a bridge in Durgapur, West Bengal, and alleged that heavy mist led its pilot to mistake a motorway for a runway. The investigation’s finding was that the aircraft was not being flown: it was an abandoned India Post aircraft being transported by truck when it became stuck beneath the bridge. To check the claim, the review says it searched Google for “aircraft under bridge west bengal” and found coverage of the incident. It cites a Times Now News article describing an abandoned India Post aircraft getting stuck under a Durgapur bridge while being carried by truck. This evidence explains the scene without the claimed landing: the aircraft was cargo on a truck, not an aircraft piloted onto a motorway.

NewtralDisasters & emergencies

Foto de los incendios activos en Australia tomada por un satélite de la NASA

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral examined a viral image claimed to show Australia’s active wildfires from space, with some posts attributing it to a NASA satellite or the International Space Station. The review says neither attribution is correct: the image is not a photograph, but a 3D visualization created by Anthony Hearsey, an image-maker who described his work as a reconstruction based on his own approach. The review further clarifies what the visualization represents. It does not depict only fires burning at the time the image circulated; it compiles fires that occurred over a 30-day period. That distinction matters because the viral presentation made the image appear to be a satellite photograph of current fires, rather than a constructed visualization spanning multiple events. Newtral reports that Hearsey explained the image’s origin on his Instagram account. The excerpt does not provide further technical details about the underlying data or the method used to construct the visualization, so it supports the correction of the image’s attribution and description, but not additional claims about its precision or completeness.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturDisasters & emergencies

Auf der Suche nach Gründen für die dramatischen Buschbrände in Australien werden Zahlen von Brandstiftungen verbreitet. Diese sollen beweisen, dass Klimawandel nichts mit Bränden zu tun hat. Die "Schweizer Morgenpost" titelt etwa mit "Brandstiftung statt Klimawandel" und erklärt später im Text: "Die Behörden in Australien haben fast 200 Menschen verhaftet, weil sie die Buschfeuer, die das Land verwüsteten, absichtlich gelegt haben"

Publisher’s rating: Brandstiftungen schließen den Klimawandel nicht aus. Eine Zahl von fast 200 verhafteten Menschen ist zudem übertrieben.

NewtralDisasters & emergencies

Foto de los incendios activos en Australia tomada por un satélite de la NASA

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review investigates an image circulated as a NASA satellite photograph showing fires then burning in Australia. It says the image was neither taken by NASA nor by the International Space Station, and was not a photograph at all. Instead, it was a 3D visualization made by image creator Anthony Hearsey, who described it on Instagram as his own reconstruction using NASA FIRMS fire data. The key distinction is between a visualization of recorded fire data and a photograph of fires active at the time. Hearsey’s visualization compiled detections spanning December 5, 2019, to January 5, 2020; the review notes that the fires shown were not all still burning. Thus, the image did not establish that the depicted fires were simultaneously active when the image circulated. The review also distinguishes Hearsey’s work from NASA’s own map. It says NASA offered a map of fire-affected points around the world, made from its own data. The presence of NASA data in Hearsey’s visualization therefore does not make the image a NASA photograph.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Helicopter view of Australian bushfires.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a photo shared as a helicopter view of Australian bushfires. Its investigation says the image was taken over Hawaiian ocean waters and was not related to a wildfire; it depicts sunset light passing through altocumulus clouds. The review concludes that the claim is false. To trace the image, FACTLY reports using Yandex Reverse Image Search. The same photo appeared in other posts described as showing California wildfires, but that circulation did not establish where or what the image showed. The review instead points to atmospheric sciences professor Marshall Shepard’s tweet linking to his Forbes article about the photo. According to the review, the Forbes article identified Nathan Province as the photographer. FACTLY also says other photos and a related video were available on Province’s Instagram profile. Together, the review’s account of the photo’s provenance and its description of the cloud-and-sunset scene contradict the claim that the image shows Australian bushfires.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Firefighters celebrating the recent rains in Australia.

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned a video said to show firefighters celebrating rain that had recently fallen in Australia and might help stop the bushfires. FACTLY found that rain did fall in Australia on January 6, 2020, but that does not establish when the video was filmed. Its review says the video was from November 2019, so it was not footage of firefighters reacting to that recent rain. To trace the footage, the review says screenshots were checked with Yandex Reverse Image Search. That search led to an article published in November 2019, which linked to a Facebook video uploaded by the Leongatha Fire Brigade. FACTLY therefore identified the footage as Australian, but from before the January rain; the video’s location did not make the claim about its timing accurate. The key distinction is between the true circumstance that rain had recently fallen and the separate claim that the video showed a celebration of that rain. The review’s account of the earlier video provenance contradicts that implied connection: the footage predates the reported rain event.