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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

ඔඩිෂාහි මාරක දුම්රිය අනතුර සිදුවූ අයුරු පෙන්නුම් කරමින් නිර්මාණය වූ නොමඟ යවන සුළු වීඩියෝවක්! (Video)

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The video at issue was a 3D animation circulated as showing how the Odisha train disaster happened. It depicted the Coromandel Express passing a red signal and showed the second collision as the Howrah Superfast Express hitting a derailed Coromandel carriage head-on. The review says it checked media reports about the crash and whether the train had run past a red signal, and also consulted the publisher’s Indian team about what preliminary investigations had found. The review’s account says the Coromandel Express had received a green signal, not a red one. It describes the crash near Bahanaga Bazar railway station on June 2, 2023: the Coromandel left the main line, entered a loop line where a freight train was stopped, and collided with it. Its derailed carriages then struck the rear carriages of the Howrah Superfast Express, which was travelling in the opposite direction. Thus, the animation’s signal depiction and its account of which parts of the trains collided were both misleading, according to the review. The review adds that preliminary findings pointed to a signalling fault and a change in electronic interlocking. It also reports that 17 carriages from the two passenger trains derailed and were seriously damaged, while noting that formal investigations had been started. These are described as preliminary findings, not as the conclusion of a completed investigation.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

Multiple videos showing waterspouts, high tides, and storms caused by Cyclone Biparjoy

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review addresses social-media videos presented as scenes of storms, waterspouts, and flooding caused by Cyclone Biparjoy, which was expected to make landfall in Gujarat and Karachi on 15 June 2023. FACTLY’s overall finding was that the videos did not document the cyclone’s effects: it says they showed unrelated older events in different countries, with one video made using CGI. The article describes comparing video frames with earlier online material, including reverse image searches. For example, it traced a video presented as a Biparjoy sandstorm to footage of a sandstorm at Egypt’s Suez Canal, reported by the BBC on 2 June 2023. A supposed cyclone waterspout in Gujarat matched footage published by FOX Weather in October 2022, which the article identifies as a waterspout at a beach in Cyprus. Another supposed storm video had been uploaded to YouTube in August 2022; the creator told News Checker it was CGI, not footage of Biparjoy. The review also traces claims about flooding and other extreme weather to different places and dates. It says a video shared as flooding in Gujarat’s Gudsiya village had appeared in September 2021 as footage of flooding there after heavy rain—not after Biparjoy. A video described as a cloudburst was a CGI simulation uploaded in December 2018. Other examples included a 2023 tornado in Pakistan’s Punjab province and a tornado in China; the article says neither was related to the cyclone. These findings concern the specific videos examined, not a claim that Biparjoy caused no real weather or coastal impacts.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaDisasters & emergencies

හපුතලේ සිදු වූ ගංවතුර අවස්ථාවක මෝටර් රථයක් ගසාගෙන යන දර්ශනයක් නොවේ!

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review examined a video shared on social media as showing a car being swept away by floodwater in Haputale, Sri Lanka. It found that the footage did not show an incident there: the article identifies the event as having taken place in Nicaragua. It reports that the video circulated with claims associating it with Haputale, and states that the footage had been reported from Nicaragua on May 29. To investigate the video’s origin, the publisher says it checked whether major Sri Lankan media had reported a similar flash flood in Haputale, then used reverse-image search on frames from the video. The search found versions of the footage from different angles on social media in multiple countries. The article describes the location as a road in Veracruz, Nicaragua, and says the driver, Alberto Uriel Romero Martínez, attempted to cross the flooded road in a Toyota 4×4 SUV while other vehicles were stopped there. The current carried the vehicle away; the article says the driver later died, according to Nicaraguan media reports. The review also considered whether a recent Haputale flood would fit the local conditions described in its reporting. It says a Badulla District Disaster Management Centre official described Haputale as an area at risk of landslides, but said rainfall there was low at the time and the prevailing monsoon was not significantly affecting the district. The publisher also reports that recent disaster-management flood and landslide warnings it checked did not list Badulla District. These local conditions provide context, while the video’s Nicaragua provenance is the evidence that directly resolves where the depicted incident occurred.

FACTLYDisasters & emergencies

No organisation associated with Islam participated in the relief work during the Odisha train accident

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns relief work following the Odisha train accident: it says no organisation associated with Islam took part. FACTLY contrasts that assertion with reports of assistance by two named organisations, Dawat-e-Islami India and Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind. The review says they provided food and water and arranged transport for victims to nearby hospitals, which directly contradicts the claim that no such organisation helped. [S1]

dpaDisasters & emergencies

Cette photo montre des chiens victimes de l'effondrement du barrage à Kakhovka.

Publisher’s rating: Non. L'image partagée dans la publication Facebook ne montre pas des chiens victimes de la catastrophe de Kakhovka en Ukraine. La photo a été prise en Thaïlande en octobre 2022.

The review examined a Facebook post presenting a photograph of six dogs as animals affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. The disaster followed the partial destruction of the dam in early June 2023 and caused flooding along the Dnipro. The investigation reports that the photograph did not come from that disaster: it was taken in Thailand in October 2022, before the Kakhovka event. To trace the image, the review says it used a reverse-image search, which led to the photograph’s earlier appearance in Thailand. The image had been circulated by Thai media and credited to the Soi Dog Foundation. The foundation confirmed to dpa that its rescue team took the photograph in Ubon Ratchathani during flooding associated with the monsoon and Typhoon Noru in October 2022. The review also reports that the image was later circulated in connection with the Ukrainian floods, including on the Ukrainian Red Cross’s page. That reuse could give the photo a misleading appearance of being documentation from Kakhovka; the reported Thai origin and date show that it instead depicts an earlier flood response.

Fact CrescendoDisasters & emergencies

दुर्घटना से कुछ देर पहले की वीडियो है ये जिसको पैसेंजर ने अपने दोस्तों को शेयर किया था लगता है सरकार और मीडिया मौतों की सही जानकारी छिपा रही हैं?किराया बढ़ाने के बाद ऐसी सुविधा दे रही है रेलवे? सरकार ने ऐसे हालात बना दिए है?

Publisher’s rating: False