A video showing cars struck in floodwaters is viral on Facebook. Moreover, the video claims it shows adverse weather in Pakistan on December 2, 2020. However, the claim is false; the footage shows a tsunami that hit Japan in 2011.
Several people shared the video on Facebook on December 2, 2020.
The text superimposed on the three-minute, 26-second video reads “Karachi Pakistan today.” The post’s Sinhala-language caption translates to English as: “May all the people in the world be protected.”
The claim circulated just hours before tropical cyclone Burevi made landfall in Sri Lanka, before hitting India about 24 hours later.
Meanwhile, many shared the video with a similar claim on Facebook.
The claim is false; the footage actually shows a tsunami that hit Japan in 2011.
A reverse image search with video keyframes obtained using a digital verification tool found this YouTube clip published on October 25, 2012. It is titled; “Tsunami gaining speed on Minato district, Ishinomaki city.”
An account named FNN11 – an official channel of Fuji News – published it.
From the 35-second mark to the four-minute one-second mark, the YouTube clip is similar to the footage in the fake Facebook posts, as seen in the below screenshot comparisons:
The same video can be seen in this YouTube clip published on April 30, 2011 titled ‘2011 Japan Tsunami: Ishinomaki [stabilized with Deshaker]’.
The video was filmed in the Japanese city of Ishinomaki. AFP has previously fact-checked the video after it circulated with other misleading claims.
At least 25 people had died as torrential rains had flood Karachi, shattering all old records. The government later had to call the Pakistan Army to rescue people from rain-hit parts of the city.
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