Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
Monsoon rains are wreaking havoc in some parts of the country with Maharashtra, Assam and Gujarat being among the most impact states. More than 190 people have lost their lives in Assam due to floods and landslides this year, while the death toll in Maharashtra stands at 105 so far.
Social media is rife with posts of flooded roads and countryside in various states. We found a very viral video showing a massive landslide in which a portion of a hillside collapses along with a section of the road constructed on it. Those sharing the video claimed it to show a landslide on Anmod Ghat located on the Goa-Karnataka Border (location given below). Newschecker’s investigation reveals that this video is old and unrelated to the said event.
Links to such posts can be found here, here, here and here.
The video has also found its way to YouTube as well with netizens posting the same with the caption “Anmod Ghat Landslide, Near Karnataka-Goa border.”
Links to such YouTube videos can be found here, here and here.
Also Read: Video Of Bridge Collapse From Indonesia Passed Off As Visuals Of Assam Floods
Fact Check/Verification
We started our investigation by checking if there were any official reports of a landslide in the said area. Located near Goa-Karnataka border, the Anmod Ghat witnessed two landslides in the first week of July owing to incessant rains in the area. Reportedly, about 8km from the Goa border check post at Mollem, a large portion of the hillside had crashed in two separate areas.
Further, we conducted reserve image searches on the keyframes of the viral video which did not yield any relevant results. Then we scanned through the comment sections of the posts associated with the clip claiming to show a landslide at Anmod district. On analysing the comments to the Facebook reel posted by user ‘Ravi Ravi’, we noticed a reply from user ‘Shabbir Khan’ saying, “Last year video of Himachal (sic).”
Taking a clue, we again conducted Google reverse image searches on the keyframes of the viral video along with the keywords “Himachal Landslide” and adjusted the time frame of results from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. This led us to a video report by NDTV dated July 31, 2021 titled ‘Watch: Dramatic Road Collapse After Landslide In Himachal Pradesh.’
Featuring the same visuals as the viral video, the report detailed that a stretch of road collapsed as a hillside crashed down in dramatic visuals of a landslide in Himachal Pradesh. “The road caved at Sirmaur after two days of incessant rain. A clip that has been widely shared shows a chunk of the hillside falling, taking the road with it. About 100 metres of the road slides down and vanishes in moments. There are no reports of casualties,” it added.
Further, we conducted a keyword search for Sirmaur Landslide 2021 which led us to multiple media reports from July 2021 elaborating on the incident. One such report by News18, carrying a longer version of the viral clip, stated that a landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district led to an entire stretch of a 100m road collapsing into the valley below.
After the landslide incident, Ram Kumar Gautam, deputy commissioner, Sirmaur, held a video conferencing with officials from Paonta Sahib and Shillai and directed them to add barricades on both sides of slide point with the warning to people to remain alert on the road.”
You can read other reports on the incident here, here and here.
Conclusion
The viral video is neither recent nor shows visuals of the landslide at Anmod Ghat. The clip is from 2021 and shows a massive landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur.
Result: False
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
