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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 CrescendoDisasters & emergencies

Claim: different photo being shared as crocodile found in Chennai flood

Publisher’s rating: ஃபேக்ட் கிரஸண்டோ ரேட்டிங்: FALSE

The review investigated a photo of a crocodile in floodwater outside a house that was being circulated in connection with Chennai’s December 2023 floods. The post described in the review asked what the crocodile should be called, and the publisher says it appeared on a Facebook page on December 5, 2023. The investigation focused on whether the photo had actually been taken in Chennai during those floods. The publisher reports using Google reverse-image search to look for earlier appearances of the image. It found the same photo in a Facebook post from 2021, but that post did not identify where or when the picture was taken. The review also found the photo used on blogs, including some that described it as showing a crocodile during flooding in Thailand; the publisher says it could not verify that identification. The key evidence was the image’s earlier circulation: the review says it had been shared on social media since September 2021. That predates the Chennai floods linked to the 2023 post, so the photo could not have been taken during those floods. The investigation does not establish the photo’s actual location or date; its conclusion is specifically that the image was not taken in Chennai during the 2023 floods.