Claim: An image shows an aerial view of a residential area in Punjab submerged in floodwater.
Fact: The image is not from the recent floods in Punjab; it appeared online as early as September 2022, in context of the floods in Pakistan at the time.
On 28 August, journalist and anchor Sabir Shakir shared an image on X, which shows an aerial view of a residential area submerged in water, writing, “پنجاب کی جعلی سرکار اور سہولتکار صاحب کہاں ہیں ؟؟”
[Translation: Where is the fake government of Punjab and the facilitator master??]
The image was shared across social media platforms with claims that it shows flood-hit areas of Punjab.
Floods in Punjab
Punjab received 26.5% more monsoon rain between 1 July and 27 August compared to the same period last year, according to the Associated Press (AP). Additionally, on 25 August, India issued it’s first flood warning to Pakistan and released water from swollen rivers and its overflowing dams into Pakistan’s low-lying regions, exacerbating the situation.
“This is the biggest flood in the history of the Punjab. The flood has affected 2 million people. It’s the first time that the three rivers — Sutlej, Chenab, and Ravi — have carried such high levels of water,” the senior minister for the province, Maryam Aurangzeb, told a press conference on 31 August, the AP reported.
As of 3 September, 300,000 people were evacuated from flood-hit areas of Punjab after the latest flood alerts by India, bringing the total number of people displaced since August to 1.3 million, reported Al Jazeera. On 4 September, Dawn cited a Reuters report stating that Pakistani officials said, “New Delhi has issued seven warnings to Pakistan about opening dam gates, three of them in the last 24 hours.”
Amid the ongoing situation, a myriad of footage from flood-hit areas has been shared on both television and social media platforms. The claim we are fact-checking has also emerged in this context.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the image and found it appeared online as early as September 2022. A Chinese article on Yahoo, titled “Adding insult to injury! Pakistan hit by floods as glacial river surges double this year; disaster victims beg reporters for food”.
The article, authored by Tsai Yu-Ting and published on 2 September 2022, featured the image in the claim. The description of the image read: “Most of Pakistan’s land and buildings were submerged by floods. Image: Taken from Pakistan Twitter.”
We attempted to trace the image on X but were unable to locate the original post. Nonetheless, its appearance online as early as September 2022 confirms that it is not an aerial shot of the recent floods in Punjab.
Virality
The image was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook. Archived here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On X, it was shared here (archive).
On Instagram, it was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here. Archived here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The viral image is not from the recent floods in Punjab. It appeared online as early as 2022.
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Background image in cover photo: AP
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