This video shows a rescue operation in Guatemala, not the Philippines

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on November 23, 2020 at 04:25
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP Philippines

Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.

A video of a flood rescue operation has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in multiple Twitter and Facebook posts alongside a claim that it was filmed in the Philippines shortly after Typhoon Vamco hit the country. The claim is false; the video in fact shows a rescue operation in Guatemala following Storm Eta in early November 2020.

The 15-second video was posted on November 12, 2020, here on Twitter, where it has been viewed more than 220,000 times. 

A screenshot of the misleading post, taken on November 17, 2020

The video’s caption states: “THIS IS SO HEARTBREAKING PLEASE PRAY FOR EVERYONE THIS ISNT REAL #ulysessph #typhoon #PrayForPhilippines #UlyssesPh #UlyssesPH”.

The post circulated online the same day Typhoon Vamco, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ulysses, hit the Philippine capital of Manila. 

An identical video and claim was also shared here, here, here and here on Facebook.

The claim is false; the video was in fact filmed in Guatemala.

A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes extracted using InVID-WeVerify, a digital verification tool, found an identical video was posted here on Twitter by US non-profit organisation World Central Kitchen. 

The video, published on November 9, 2020, is captioned: "It’s been a long week, but the work can’t stop. Hurricane #Eta caused immense destruction in Central America. WCK teams are on the ground in Guatemala & Honduras. We joined a rescue mission in Morales, Guatemala—families were picked up & we dropped food for others still trapped."

Eta was a powerful storm that devastated portions of Guatemala, leaving about 150 people dead, AFP reported here on November 6, 2020. 

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (L) and the World Central Kitchen video (R):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (L) and the World Central Kitchen video (R)

At the video’s seven-second mark, a rescuer can be seen wearing a uniform with a print that reads: “GUATEMALA”.

Screenshot of video frame that shows “Guatemala” in uniform

The same rescue operation video was also posted here on Twitter by Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

Contact us

Next article Previous article