Visuals From Nepal Viral as ‘Glacier Burst in Uttarakhand’

The video is of an avalanche that took place at the Kapuche Glacier Lake in Parche, Nepal.

The video is of an avalanche that took place on 11 January at the Kapuche Glacier Lake in Parche, Nepal.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video from Nepal is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows the “first visuals” of what is believed to be a glacier burst in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Sunday, 7 February.

CLAIM

On Sunday, a sudden, exponential rise in water level in Rishiganga River near Reni village, Chamoli district, led to a catastrophic flood downstream.

Soon after, this video started doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter with a claim that it shows the “first visuals” of the tragedy.

An archived version of the post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of this post can be accessed here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

A reverse image search led us to the original video on Instagram, which was uploaded on 11 January by user ‘naren32’ with the caption, “Huge Avalanche at Kapuche Lake,” which is in Nepal.

(Photo: Screenshot/Instagram)

The user had also uploaded the video on YouTube on 11 January, identifying the location as Nepal.

Clearly, the viral video cannot be of the glacier burst in Uttarakhand, as its existence precedes the incident, which took place on 7 February.

Further, we found a report by London-based Newsflare on MSN, carrying similar visuals. It stated that the avalanche took place on 11 January at the Kapuche Glacier Lake in Parche, Nepal, which is the “lowest glacier lake in the world at 2,546 metres above sea level.”

A news bulletin on The Weather Channel also carried similar visuals stating that an avalanche in Nepal was caught on camera.

We also matched the visuals in the video with images of the Kapuche Glacier on Google Maps.

(Photo: Google Maps/Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

(Photo: Google Maps/Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

Evidently, a video of an avalanche in Nepal has been falsely shared as visuals of the Uttarakhand glacier break.

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