Old clips shared in false posts that Cyclone Mocha 'destroyed houses' in former Myanmar capital

This article is more than one year old.
Published on May 31, 2023 at 11:02
2 min read
By AFP Thailand

Social media posts in Myanmar have shared a video showing heavy winds and a flooded port alongside the false claim Cyclone Mocha destroyed many houses in the country's biggest city Yangon in May. However, the clips shared in the posts both predate Cyclone Mocha. AFP journalists in Yangon reported no widespread damage across the city while Myanmar's fire department only reported uprooted trees in the former capital.

The one-minute seven-second video was shared on Facebook on May 9, 2023. Its Burmese-language caption says: "(The storm) has started hitting the Yangon port. Many houses were uprooted."

The post circulated as Mocha brought lashing rain and winds of 195 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour) to Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh, collapsing buildings and turning streets into rivers.

The storm killed over 140 people, the country's junta said, with most of the dead from the persecuted Rohingya minority and much of the damage in conflict-scarred Rakhine state, AFP reported.

Screenshot of the false post. Taken May 31, 2023

Similar posts were shared on Facebook here and here, on a blog post and on YouTube here and here.

But AFP journalists working in Yangon found no evidence of uprooted houses in the former capital contrary to the claim in the posts.

Moreover, multiple updates published by the Myanmar Fire Service Department on its official Facebook page here reported dozens of trees were uprooted but did not mention destroyed houses (archived link).

Old footage

The video shared in the posts also features two clips that predate Cyclone Mocha.

Keyword searches on Google found the first clip published here on Myanmar's local media outlet Myanmar Now's YouTube channel on April 24, 2023 (archived link). Its caption reads: "Eight dead during tornadoes hit Lewe township, Naypyidaw."

Naypyidaw, the modern capital of Myanmar, is located north of Yangon.

Below is a screenshot comparison between first clip in the false posts (left) and the video posted by Myanmar Now (right):

Screenshot comparison

The same video was also uploaded by another local news channel Tachileik News Agency on April 22, 2023 (archived link).

Meanwhile, a Google reverse image search of keyframes found the second clip published on Facebook on March 21, 2022.

The caption of the video reads: "21.3.2022/ Today's situation in Thae Chaung village in Myeik township".

Meyik is a coastal city located in the southernmost part of Myanmar which according to the country's meteorology department was affected by severe cyclonic storm Asani in March 2022 (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the second clip (left) and the 2022 Facebook video (right):

Screenshot comparison between the misleading Facebook post (left) and the 2022 video posted on Facebook post (right).

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