Outdated Images of Pakistan Floods Resurface Online
The Claim
Two images show the recent floods in Pakistan.
News posted on
Emerging story
Two images purportedly showing the recent floods in Pakistan have been recently circulated by social media users and media outlets.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral images and found the claim to be misleading.
Images Date Back to the 2010 Floods in Pakistan
The first image shows a family displaced by flooding wades through floodwaters as they return to their village of Bello Patan, in Pakistan's Sindh province. Akhtar Soomro captured the image on September 21, 2010, for Reuters.
The second outdated image shows a family huddled on the roof of a mosque in the town of Sanawa, Punjab province, as they await rescue from the floodwaters. The image was posted in The Guardian’s article about the 2010 Pakistan floods. Reuters is the source of the image.
2022 Floods in Pakistan
In a flash $160 million appeal for flood-ravaged Pakistan, UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday warned that the world is “sleepwalking” into environmental destruction.
Since June, at least 1,136 people have been killed, while bridges, crops, homes, and highways have all been destroyed countrywide.
The terrible floods of 2010, which claimed more than 2,000 lives and were the deadliest in Pakistan’s history, are comparable to this year's record monsoons.
One in seven Pakistanis, according to official estimates, have been impacted by the flooding.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's minister for climate change, referred to the situation as a "climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions" on Monday.
Even with the aid of helicopters, authorities still have trouble getting to those stuck in the villages cut off by swept-away bridges and roads in northern Swat Valley. Thousands of residents have been told to leave.
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