Claim: An image shows the state of people living in rural Sindh, hinting at the impoverished state of the province.
Fact: The image is, in fact, more than a decade old and shows affectees of the 2010 Pakistan flood in a village in Dera Ghazi Khan in the country’s Punjab province.
On 25 January 2023, Twitter user @SaeedSangri posted a picture of people reaching out for what appears to be food donations during a relief campaign, with the caption, “Faces of #Sindh.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check, using reverse image search tools, ascertained that the picture is not from Sindh nor recent.
It shows people reaching out for food during a relief drive by a charity in the Karamdad Qureshi village of Dera Ghazi Khan, a district in Punjab, Pakistan. The image — taken on 21 August 2010 by Reuters photographer Reinhard Krause — depicts the situation following the devastating floods in Pakistan in 2010.
The Reuters Pictures website has captioned the image as follows:
“Locals struggle to get food donated by a local charity at Karamdad Qureshi village in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab province August 21, 2010. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause (PAKISTAN – Tags: DISASTER IMAGES OF THE DAY)”.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the 2010 floods “affected approximately 20 million people, destroyed homes, crops, and infrastructure and left millions vulnerable to malnutrition and waterborne disease”, with an estimated 1,200-2,200 people dead and 14 million people rendered homeless.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the tweet received more than 1,300 views and is still gaining traction.
Sangri describes himself as a “Peace Activist, Humanist, Philanthropist and Social Scientist” on his Facebook account.
Conclusion: The image shows affectees of the 2010 Pakistan flood in a village in Dera Ghazi Khan in the country’s Punjab province.
Background image in cover photo: Mohammad Hassan Mukhtar Ahmad