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.
As torrential rainfall wreaked havoc in Assam, several social media users shared images and videos from the flood-hit state highlighting the severity of the situation and condition of its residents. One such 21-second-long-video claiming to show a bridge collapse in Assam amid massive flooding is doing the rounds on social media platforms. Newschecker found the video to be old and unrelated to the recent floods in the north eastern state.
Several shared the video claiming to show visuals of Assam floods.
Assam floods wreak havoc
Incessant rainfall due to to strong southwesterly winds from Bay of Bengal, resulted in massive flooding and landslides in Assam. As per report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, dated May 18, 2022, a total of 27 districts in the state have been affected. The death toll as of Wednesday stood at nine while over 6.62 lakh people have been affected. More than 48,000 people have taken shelter in 135 relief camps in different districts of Assam, while 113 distribution centres have been set up across the state to ensure there is no shortage of essential commodities in the flood-hit areas.
Fact Check/Verification
To check whether the viral clip is from Assam or not, we conducted Google reverse image search by using its keyframes and found an article published in Tribunnews Wiki on April 5, 2021 with a title in Indonesian which roughly translates to “Viral Video Moments of the Collapse of the Old Kambaniru Bridge in East Sumba Dragged by the River Current.”
The article featured stills from the viral video with the caption which roughly translates to “A screenshot of a resident’s amateur video showing the old Kambaniru Bridge collapse under the swift current of the river on Sunday (4/4/2021).”
On further reverse image search on Yandex, we found a report by website Suryakepri, dated April 4, 2021, which also carried a still from the viral video with a caption in Indonesian which roughly translates to “Bridge collapses, flash floods in East Flores, Sunday (04/04/2021).”
According to the report, “The extreme climate in the East Nusa Tenggara Province caused the old Kambaniru bridge in East Sumba Regency, NTT to collapse in the flood, Sunday.” It added that the bridge was also known as Ahmad Yani bridge.
We found a video uploaded on a verified YouTube channel KompasTV on April 5, 2021 with an Indonesian caption which translates to “Flash Floods and Landslides Hit NTT.” 45 seconds into the video, we spotted a snippet from the viral clip.
Keyframes of the viral video claiming to show a bridge collapse in Assam, were also seen in a YouTube video uploaded on verified channel Official iNews on April 5, 2021 with the caption in Indonesian which roughly translates to “The Ahmad Yani Bridge in East Sumba Drifted by Flash Floods – iNews Morning 05/04.”
Heavy rainfall led to massive flash floods and landslides in Indonesia and East Timor in April, 2021. Several media outlets carried reports on the same. You can read them here, here and here.
Conclusion
Video showing a bridge collapse in Indonesia during flash floods of April 2021 shared with a claim to show a bridge collapse in Assam amid massive flooding.
Result: False Context/False
Sources
Report published in Tribunnews Wiki on April 5, 2021
Report published in Suryakepri on April 4, 2021
Video uploaded on YouTube channel KompasTV on April 5, 2021
Video uploaded on YouTube channel Official iNews on April 5, 2021
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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.
