Posts falsely claim video of submerged Thai temple depicts flooding in Cambodia

Published on September 10, 2025 at 10:58
3 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

A video of Thailand’s Nong Bua Temple partially submerged by floodwaters has resurfaced in posts claiming it shows flooding in neighbouring Cambodia. While heavy rain drenched parts of both countries in late August, the footage was in fact filmed in northern Thailand a month earlier.

"Flooding in Cambodia. Karma," reads the Thai-language caption of a TikTok clip posted on September 7, 2025.

The clip accumulated nearly 300,000 views and shows a partially submerged temple with only its ornately decorated roof above the water.

Superimposed Thai text on the video reads "Flooding in Cambodia", while the Khmer-language text says "Flooding at a pagoda in Laos near Thai border".

Screenshot of the false TikTok post captured on September 9, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

Similar claims surfaced elsewhere on Facebook and YouTube in what appears to be part of an ongoing social media battle between Thai and Cambodian users after the countries engaged in five days of deadly border clashes in July (archived link).

"If they didn't invade Thailand, Thailand would've gone to help relieve them from the floods. Now, I don't see any countries offering them hands to help. Karma is real," read a comment on one of the posts.

Another comment read: "Cambodia is ungrateful to us. Let the flood inundate their entire country."

The posts appeared after tropical storms struck Thailand and Cambodia in late August, with heavy rains triggering floods and landslides (archived here and here).

But a reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip found an identical video published on Facebook in July.

The original video was published on July 24 and captioned: "Nong Bua Temple, Ta Wang Pha district, Nan province" (archived link).

The user -- a Buddhist monk -- confirmed with AFP on September 9 that he took the video at Nong Bua Temple on July 24. He said posts claiming it was filmed in Cambodia are "false".

Thai media reported that Tropical Storm Wipha swept through Nan province in July, with the century-old temple sustaining damage from severe floods (archived here and here).

Screenshot comparison of the false TikTok post (left) and the Facebook post from July (right)

Similar photos of the flooded temple were also posted elsewhere on Facebook on the same day (archived link).

A representative from Nong Bua Temple also confirmed to AFP that the circulating clip was taken at the temple, adding that it was "the worst flooding in 200 years".

Elements of the clip also match with Google Maps photos of the temple (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and a Google Maps photo of the Nong Bua Temple in Thailand (right)

Local media reported that government officials had surveyed the damaged temple and restoration work is expected in late 2025 (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Cambodia-Thailand conflict.

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