Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Viral video shows release of water from the spillway of Kulekhani dam in Makwanpur district.
Fact
Viral video shows the opening of a spillway at Tarbela dam in Pakistan.
Even as the internet is barraged with horrifying images and videos depicting floods and landslides triggered by incessant downpour last week, a video allegedly showing water being released from Kulekhani dam in Makwanpur district is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @bijaydonglama0 posted a 48-second video showing water being released from a reservoir. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Warning before opening Kulekhani [dam]” An emergency siren is audible in the background while the floodgates are opened.
The video posted on September 30 has garnered 10.7k likes, 186 users have shared it and 48 people have commented until the last count. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker split the video into several key-frames and ran reverse searches on Google. A reverse search on Google led us to a video, dated August 10, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel named Kashmir Explorer. On checking the full video, we found that the video from 55-second onwards exactly matched the viral video.
We dug further and found another video, dated August 10, 2024, posted on the YouTube channel named Unusual Stuff. On checking the video, we found that the video bore resemblance to the viral video.
As both the videos haven’t mentioned the exact location where the video was captured, we scanned the comments on the video and noticed a person asking a question which dam is it and the owner of the channel confirming that the video is showing Tarbela Dam, one of the largest dams of Pakistan.
Further, we searched for a recent video of Kulekhani dam on YouTube and found a video posted by one Rahul Singh. The video, dated September 28, showed the release of water from Kulekhani dam in Makwanpur district after last week’s incessant rains. We found no matching between the viral video and the spillway of Kulekhani dam.
Thus, our findings showed that the viral video showed the release of water from Tarbela dam in Pakistan.
Conclusion
No, the viral video doesn’t show the water being released from Kulekhani dam after recent rainfall. The viral video actually shows the release of water from Pakistan’s Tarbela dam.
Result: False
Sources
Kashmir Explorer/YouTube, August 10, 2024
Unusual Stuff/YouTube, August 10, 2024
Rahul Singh/YouTube, Sept 28, 2024
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
