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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

NewtralDisasters & emergencies

Bomberos de Barcelona han ido a Gran Canaria, pagándose sus gastos, para sofocar el fuego

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned a Facebook post circulating on 19 August 2019 that said six Barcelona firefighters had gone to Gran Canaria, paying their own expenses, to help fight the island’s fire. Newtral checked with emergency and government bodies responsible for the response, as well as Barcelona’s fire service and a firefighters’ union. The Canary Islands’ 112 service said it had no record of Catalan firefighters helping. It confirmed that Catalonia’s interior minister had offered to send personnel if needed, but said they had not been requested. The article also explains that operational fire response had to be coordinated under the Canary Islands’ emergency plan, and that 112 would therefore have been aware if the six had gone as firefighters. The other organizations contacted likewise reported no formal deployment or knowledge of the alleged trip: Catalonia’s interior department said there had been no formal request and it knew of no team members who had gone or planned to go; Barcelona’s fire department and the CCOO union section also reported no information supporting the claim. The article does not establish that nobody from Barcelona travelled privately: it says that possibility could not be verified, and the city fire department said anyone going personally would have been without uniform. But it distinguishes that unconfirmed possibility from the specific claim of firefighters travelling to intervene in the coordinated emergency response, and finds no evidence for the claimed self-funded deployment.

NewtralDisasters & emergencies

Imágenes de los responsables de los incendios del Amazonas

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim attached old photographs of YouTubers Auronplay (Raúl Álvarez) and Luisito Comunica (Luis Villar) to an allegation that they were responsible for starting the Amazon fires. The review says the images were being recirculated on Facebook with claims that the men were “criminales” who “iniciaron” the fires; it also describes a separate false allegation that Auronplay used the name “El Abduzcan.” The review rejects the attribution of responsibility, rather than identifying the people in the photographs as perpetrators.

NewtralDisasters & emergencies

Bomberos descansando en Gran Canaria antes de volver a la lucha contra el fuego

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a photograph of five firefighters resting on a road, presented as showing firefighters in the Canary Islands taking a short break before returning to fight a fire. Newtral investigated the photograph itself, which had been shared at least 21,000 times on Facebook, rather than relying only on the caption attached to it. The review says an image search found the photograph circulating since 2016, before the Gran Canaria fire referenced by the claim. The review traces an earlier use of the same image to a 2016 Twitter account that said it was taken during a fire in Portugal that year. It also notes that the photograph was later presented online as showing firefighters near Italy’s Vesuvius or in France. These different captions show why the image’s presence alongside a claim about Gran Canaria does not establish where it was taken. Newtral points to a visible detail in the photograph: the vehicle’s license plate has yellow coloring on the right, which the review identifies as corresponding to Portuguese plates, citing an article by the Portuguese outlet Observador. Taken together, the image’s earlier circulation and the plate detail contradict the claim that this is a photograph of firefighters in Gran Canaria. The excerpt does not identify the precise Portuguese location of the photograph.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturDisasters & emergencies

Im Internet wird derzeit in einem Beitrag unter der Rubrik «Eilmeldung» behauptet, in Neu Wulmstorf bei Hamburg sei «am Freitagnachmittag» ein Kleinkind durch ein herabgestürztes Rolltor erschlagen worden. Nach dem Verursacher, einem Lkw-Fahrer, werde gesucht.

Publisher’s rating: Es handelt sich um keinen aktuellen Fall. Das Mädchen war im Ende 2018 bei dem tragischen Unfall ums Leben gekommen. Der Unfallfahrer wurde wenige Tage später ermittelt. Ihn trifft nach Angaben der Staatsanwaltschaft keine Schuld.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Flash flood in Amritsar

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video shared as footage of a flash flood in Amritsar, Punjab. FACTLY’s review says the video was instead filmed at Kote Gate in Bikaner, Rajasthan, so the location attached to the footage was incorrect. To investigate, the review reports taking screenshots from the video and running them through Google Reverse Image Search. That search led to a YouTube upload of the same video. Its description identified the scene as “Kota Gate Bikaner” and described rain in Bikaner, providing a lead to check the location independently. The review then compared landmarks visible in the footage with Kote Gate. It notes matching features of the structure—including its opening, windows, parapet wall and chattris—and says nearby buildings also matched those beside Kote Gate. On this basis, it identifies the video as showing flooding at Kote Gate in Bikaner, not Amritsar. The evidence presented is therefore about the location of the specific video, not whether flooding occurred elsewhere in Amritsar.

NewtralDisasters & emergencies

Se ha activado la alerta nivel 3 en el incendio de Gran Canaria

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review checks a message circulating on Facebook and WhatsApp that said the fire in Gran Canaria had been raised to alert level 3. It identifies the fire as the one that began on 17 August in the Barranco de Los Pajaritos, in Valleseco. The review says that, when it was published, the emergency remained at level 2—not level 3. To check the message, the review points to statements from the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Local Police and the Canary Islands emergency service, 112 Canarias, both posted on Twitter. It says the police shared images identical in content to the message being checked. The 112 Canarias statement said level 2 remained in force, that the Canary Islands Government was directing the emergency, and that there was no expectation of raising the level. The review also reports that the Local Police said the level remained 2. The distinction matters because level 2 did not itself mean the emergency had been placed under national direction. The review describes level 3 as the highest emergency level and says it would mean the national government considered the national interest to be at stake. It also notes the fire’s severity—6,000 hectares burned and about 9,000 people evacuated—while making clear that those circumstances did not mean the alert had been raised to level 3.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Petrol pumps in Wayanad refuse fuel to Indian Army for rescue operations during Kerala Floods.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a viral post alleging that petrol pumps in Wayanad, Kerala, refused fuel to Army personnel carrying out flood-rescue operations. The post further claimed that the Army used special disaster-management powers to seize the pumps, fuel its vehicles, and leave. The investigation checked the allegation with the Wayanad District Collector’s office and the Bharat Petroleum office in Sulthan Bathery; both described the refusal story as false. The review also traced the viral account to a report on keralakaumudi.com and describes how that report was updated with responses from a Sulthan Bathery petrol-pump employee and the local police. The employee said the Army had not approached the pump for fuel and that, because transport was disrupted, its stock had run out by afternoon. Police said they had received no complaint against the pumps. These accounts do not support the post’s claim that fuel was refused. As additional evidence, the review reports that the Wayanad District Petrol Dealers Association had complained to the Kerala government and district police about the false news. Taken together, the officials’ responses and the reported explanations for the fuel shortage contradict the central allegation: the evidence described does not show that Wayanad pumps refused fuel to the Army during rescue operations.

DUBAWADisasters & emergencies

The former Minister of Aviation says there were no plane crashes during his tenure.

Publisher’s rating: Mostly True

The claim concerns Femi Fani Kayode’s statement that there were no plane crashes while he served as Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation. The review says he held the post from November 7, 2006, to May 29, 2007. It distinguishes a plane crash from other aviation accidents—a distinction central to its conclusion. For the period in office, the review reports no plane crashes, but identifies a fatal helicopter crash: a six-seat Odengene Air Shuttle helicopter crashed in Delta State on November 10, 2006, killing two people. On that evidence, the claim about plane crashes is supported, but an unqualified suggestion that there were no aviation crashes would leave out the helicopter accident. The review also places the claim in a broader sequence: it says plane crashes occurred before Kayode’s tenure and resumed afterward. It cites the Dana Airlines crash on June 3, 2012, in Lagos, as an example after his departure. Its conclusion is therefore specifically about the wording “plane crash,” not the absence of all aircraft accidents.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Two motorcyclists being swept away in a flash flood after a bridge collapsed in Karnataka.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video said to show two motorcyclists swept away when a bridge collapsed during a flash flood in Karnataka. The review reports that reverse-image searches of screenshots led to a Viral Press video uploaded to YouTube in July 2019. Its description identifies the location as Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, not Karnataka. [source-supported claims: S1]

Fact CrescendoDisasters & emergencies

Claim: BJP functionaries distributed 2 bananas for flood hit TN people

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photograph said to show BJP functionaries giving two bananas to people affected by heavy rain in Nilgiris district. The review describes the image as showing four party figures handing two bananas to an elderly man, and says the accompanying post linked the aid to an appeal by Modi. It places the claim amid reports of heavy rain and disruption in Nilgiris, where opposition leader M. K. Stalin and the Tamil Nadu chief minister had visited affected areas. The review reports that its investigators used a reverse-image search to trace the photograph. Their search indicated that it was not taken in Nilgiris and was already an old image. They could not establish who first published it, when it was taken, where exactly it originated, or who the people in it were. The review also found that the same image had circulated on social media for more than a year before being presented as a recent Nilgiris relief effort. That evidence undermines the post’s specific attribution: an image circulating long before the Nilgiris rains cannot establish that the pictured bananas were distributed there as relief for those affected by the current event. The review therefore concludes that the post used an old photograph to make a false claim about aid in Nilgiris.