Old photos of floating house in Malaysia falsely linked to Thai floods
- Published on August 29, 2024 at 08:04
- Updated on August 29, 2024 at 08:34
- 3 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
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"So who's crazy now? When the uncle was building this house, his neighbours and passers-by laughed at him and said he was crazy," read a Facebook post published on August 25, 2024.
"Now these people are crying because their houses are flooded," it added.
The post shared the hashtag "Nan", referring to one of several provinces in northern Thailand struck by seasonal heavy rainstorms that sparked deadly flooding in late August.
At least 22 people were killed in the flash floods, according to Thai disaster officials (archived link).
The photos in the post, which attracted more than 2,600 likes, showed a house floating on water and another of a man crouched next to it, showing plastic barrels underneath.
Similar Facebook posts linked the photos to the floods in northern Thailand here, here and here.
However, the house in the picture was in fact built in Malaysia.
Flood-proof Malaysia home
Reverse image searches on Google found the first photo published in a report from December 2022 by Malaysia's national news agency Bernama (archived link).
The article's Malay-language headline read: "'My house, my raft' saved Pokwe's family from floods".
Former lorry driver A. Bakar Che Ahmad, 67 -- better known as Pokwe -- was quoted saying he built the flood-resistant house in Kampung Tebak Batu 16 in western Malaysia using "69 plastic barrels and 54 pieces of fascia boards".
He was reportedly inspired by his floating chicken coop that stopped his pets getting swept away in floods in 2019.
The second photo was published in a similar report from October 2022 by Malaysian newspaper Utusan Malaysia which a photo of the house (archived link).
Below are screenshot comparisons of the photos shared in false Facebook posts (left) and in news reports about the house in Malaysia (right):
Keyword searches on Google found a TikTok video posted on December 24, 2022 which shows various photos of the house's construction (archived link).
The clip's uploader told AFP that the video showed his father's floating house in Malaysia.
The dwelling cannot be seen on Google Street View as the most recent images of the area in western Malaysia were taken in 2015 before the house was built.
But other Street View features from the area are visible in the TikTok video, such as a cell tower behind trees visible at the 1:56-mark of the video.
Below is a screenshot comparison between a Google Maps image of the area (left) and the TikTok video (right), with similar elements highlighted by AFP:
A Malaysian flag can also be seen hoisted on the flagpole, suggesting it was filmed in Malaysia.
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