Claim: A video shows a house collapsing due to landslides as torrential rain and floods hit northern Pakistan.
Fact: The video is authentic but neither from Pakistan nor recent. It shows a house collapsing in Sarkaghat, a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, in August 2023.
On 20 August 2025, Instagram user @aters.mystic posted (archive) a video showing a large house giving way and collapsing amid an apparent landslide. It was shared as torrential weather, including heavy rain and floods, wreaked havoc in multiple cities across Pakistan.
The words “Flood in Pakistan” are superimposed on the video. The accompanying caption is as follows:
“The 2025 Pakistan floods are a series of devastating flash floods triggered by heavy pre-monsoon rains since 2025, primarily affecting Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The floods resulted in significant casualties, infrastructure damage, and widespread displacement, particularly in the Swat Valley.”
Hundreds killed in floods
The death toll from flash floods in Pakistan has risen to 830, as of 29 August, according to data (archive) compiled by the NDMA. Media reports said more than 470 fatalities of these were in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
Additionally, upwards of 1,100 people have been injured, 8,900 houses destroyed, and 6,130 livestock perished since 6 June, according to the NDMA.
ReliefWeb, an information portal by the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on 26 August that Buner — a district in KP — was hit hardest with the highest number of people killed at 228.
At least 89 trucks worth of aid was delivered to affected districts on the orders of KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, the provincial government said, adding that the PDMA has released PKR 800 million to the affected districts and PKR 500 million to Buner. PKR 1 billion was also provided to the Rescue and Relief Department to support flood affectees.
In a 15 August update, it said, “On the directives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health advisor, a health emergency has been imposed in the flood- and rain-affected districts (Buner, Swat, Mansehra, Bajaur, Mohmand, Abbottabad), flood control rooms established, all medical staff put on high alert, leaves canceled, and treatment [of patients] in hospitals continues uninterrupted.”
“Rescue officials evacuated 2,071 individuals to safe locations,” it added.
The Guardian reported, “The provincial rescue agency told AFP that about 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations in nine affected districts.”
Many of the residents were caught off guard, with one telling Al Jazeera that the floodwater “came so fast that many could not leave their homes”.
“Climate change has directly amplified the triggers of cloudbursts in Pakistan, especially. Every 1°C rise allows the air to hold about 7% more moisture, increasing the potential for heavy rainfall in short bursts,” ABC News said, quoting experts.
The situation is made worse because of the unexpectedness of this phenomenon, with Pakistani officials saying “a warning to allow evacuations was not possible, as the cloudburst struck before residents could be alerted”, ITV reported.
In a 29 August weather alert, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) warned of “a risk of flooding” in multiple northern and northeastern areas “tonight and during August 30”.
Fact or Fiction?
A reverse-image search led us to the same video posted as a YouTube Short on 20 April 2025.
A further search led us to a video report (archive), including the same footage, by India Today from 16 August 2023. It is titled “Himachal Landslide: House Collapses Due To Heavy Rains In Himachal As Landslides Strike | HP Rains”.
The description of the video states, “A house in Himachal Pradesh’s Sarkaghat in Mandi district on Wednesday collapsed due to [a] landslide triggered by heavy rainfall. Heavy rains battered (sic) Himachal Pradesh since Sunday, triggering landslides and cloudbursts that blocked several roads and led to house collapse incidents.”
Another video report published on the same date by The Tribune, an Indian media outlet, corroborated the incident and wrote, “Multi-storey house collapses in Mandi’s Sarkaghat area following landslide after heavy rains”.
It was also posted on X (formerly Twitter) by @Top_Disaster the same day, with the caption, “Several house (sic) collapse due (sic) landslide at Sarkaghat in Mandi of Himachal Pradesh, India.”
Several house collapse due landslide at Sarkaghat in Mandi of Himachal Pradesh, India 🇮🇳
TELEGRAM JOIN 👉 https://t.co/9cTkji5aZq pic.twitter.com/purw8ewT7i
— Disaster News (@Top_Disaster) August 16, 2023
An article (archive) published on 18 August 2023 by The Indian Express identified the owner of the collapsed house as Lance Naik (r) Ashok Guleria, a former security officer. It quoted him as saying, “The house is gone, but the job is still there. I had to take the call of the duty. […] It is very disturbing to see people watching that video over and over again, but they don’t know and understand the pain I am going through.”
The publication said Guleria’s house collapsed on 14 August 2023.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the video is not from Pakistan nor recent.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the video posted with the incorrect caption here and here on Instagram, here, here, and here on Facebook, and here, here, and here on YouTube.
It was also shared here on TikTok, where it has been viewed over 2.3 million times so far.
Conclusion: The video, while authentic, is neither from Pakistan nor recent. It shows a house collapsing in Sarkaghat, a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, in August 2023.
Background image in cover photo: farzeen baig
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