A post with a video claiming to be that of the underwater volcanic eruption in Indonesia is doing rounds on social media. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a recent volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
Fact: The video is actually a simulation created by Victoria University back in 2017 as part of a research project to show the magnitude of destruction caused in case of an active supervolcano erupts. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video in the claim led us to an article dated 11 Oct 2017 which reported the same video. According to the article, the footage was actually of a simulation created in 2017 as part of a research project carried out in Victoria University, New Zealand. The simulation video is created to show the level of mass destruction which could be caused in the event of the undersea supervolcano eruption. Also, according to the article the video was intended to simulate the view from an Auckland living room. With this, we can conclude that the video in the post is no way related to the recent volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
On 10 August 2020, Indonesia’s Sinabung volcano has erupted engulfing the villages in the vicinity in ash. News articles which reported this can be read here and here and video related to this can be seen here. In the wake of this incident, an old simulation video claiming to be that of the Sinabung volcanic eruption is being shared by many social media users.
In a nutshell, simulation video created by Victoria University back in 2017 is being shared as that of the recent volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
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