Fact Check: Video claiming to be of China floods is that of Japan's Tsunami
By Satya Priya BN Published on 28 Aug 2020 11:00 AM GMTHyderabad: China's Three Gorges dam recorded a high-level of flooding. The Yangtze River, which passes through the dam, has flooded several times this year already due to heavy rains. Areas the downstream Yangtze is still recovering from heavy flooding that occurred in July and affected a large part of southeastern China.
In this context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which gushing water is sweeping away the city within minutes. This video is being shared with claim "China's three gorges dam faces severe flooding as Yangtze overflows, Yangtze River Flood In Streets 3 Bridges Collapsed In this flood."
NewsMeter received the viral video, questioning the location of the video.
Fact Check:
The claim is FALSE. The above video was shot at the time of Tsunami in Japan, in 2011.
After extracting the keyframes, we performed reverse image search in Google. We found that this video belongs to the Tsunami in Japan. The same video can be seen published on several YouTube channels with the time stamp.
From then, this video is being circulated online on various platforms.
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake that measured 9 on the Richter scale shook northeastern Japan, unleashing a savage tsunami. The effects of the great earthquake were felt around the world, from Norway's fjords to Antarctica's ice sheet.
The claim that the Three Gorges bridge collapsed is also FALSE. According to several reports, the Yangtze river's fifth flood in China, has smoothly passed through the Three Gorges dam this year, taking the reservoir's water-level to a record high.
The floods caused an emergency evacuation of 2,51,000 people and inundated 23,700 shops, but did not lead to deaths, according to the municipality's emergency management bureau.
Here is the video showing the situation of the floods in China.
The Atlantic website, on August 25, 2020, has published several pictures that show China floods.
Yangtze river's fifth flood passed through the Three Gorges dam, pushing the reservoir's water-level to a record high. Many buildings along the Yangtze River have been destroyed during the flood season but the Guanyin Pavilion in the middle of the river has continued to stand tall even after more than 700 years.
This claim is also debunked by Logical Indian.
Though there has been flooding and damage during the recent China Yangtze river floods, the above video does not belong to China. It is a viral video shot during the Tsunami that occurred in Japan in 2011.
Therefore, the claim is FALSE.