These photos show aftermath of deadly storm in Philippines in 2011, not typhoon in 2021

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 20, 2021 at 11:02
4 min read
By AFP Philippines

A set of photos have been shared hundreds of times on Facebook, alongside a claim that it shows "dead bodies" found in the southern Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Rai in December 2021. But the photos have been shared in a false context: the images have circulated in posts and reports about Tropical Storm Washi, another deadly disaster that devastated the southern part of the country in December 2011.

Warning: distressing footage

Seven photos have been posted on December 16, 2021, in this Facebook post, which has been shared more than 370 times.

The images feature various scenes of devastation: uprooted trees, muddy streets and vehicles turned upside down. At least three of the photos show bodies lying on the ground.

The Tagalog-language caption of the post reads in part: "Dead bodies found in Iligan//12/16/2021".

The hashtag "#TyphoonOdettePH" was included in the caption.

Screenshot of the false post taken on December 18, 2021

"Odette" is the Philippine name for Typhoon Rai.

Iligan, a city in the southern island of Mindanao, was also in Typhoon Rai’s path.

More than 200 people are reportedly dead after Typhoon Rai, the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year, slammed the country on December 16, 2021, causing widespread damage in the central and southern part of the country, AFP reported.

The set of photos have been shared with a similar claim on Facebook here, here and here.

But the claim is false: the images show the aftermath of a deadly storm that hit the Philippines a decade ago.

Keyword searches on Google and Facebook found the original images were published in an album of 151 photos uploaded here on Facebook on December 17, 2011, a day after Tropical Storm Washi devastated Iligan.

The images were shared on the Facebook account of Rene Pernia, an employee of the Iligan city government.

The caption and the title of the album read: “SENDONG visits Iligan City 12-17-2011/ for the first time Iligan City on Signal Number 2”.

"Sendong" is the name used in the Philippines for Tropical Storm Washi, which unleashed floods that swept away villages in the southern part of the country in December 2011.

More than 1,200 people died, mostly in the port cities of Cagayan De Oro and Iligan, where mass burial sites were set up for the decomposing bodies of the victims, AFP reported in December 2011 here and here.

Pernia confirmed to AFP that the seven photos in the false Facebook posts were part of the hundreds of images he captured after Washi devastated Iligan.

“The Sendong photos are mine,” he told AFP.

Below are screenshot comparisons of the photos in the misleading Facebook post (L) and Pernia's photos (R):

Content warning

Content warning

One of Pernia's photos was also used by the Philippines News Agency in this December 16, 2021, feature report about how Typhoon Rai reminded Northern Mindanao residents of Tropical Storm Washi.

Four of his photos, including one shared in the misleading post, were posted on the Twitter account of the lifestyle blog website Iligan Daily here, on December 17, 2020, to mark the ninth anniversary of the disaster.

There have been no casualties reported in Iligan due to the typhoon in December 2021, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Philippine media outlet Mindanews has also debunked the false posts here.

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