Video of 2011 tsunami devastation in Japan is passed off as China’s three gorge dam overflow - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 5, 2021
In the wake of recent floods in most parts of China which caused loss of life and property, a post accompanying a video showing an overflowing waterbody sweeping away boats, vehicles stationed along the embankment is being shared widely across social media. The post claims that the video is related to the overflow of the Three Gorges Dam in China. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of the Three Gorges Dam overflow in China.
Fact: The video actually shows visuals of tsunami sweeping away vehicles and boats in Miyako city, Japan back in 2011. The video has nothing to do with the Three Gorges Dam in China. Also there are no recent news reports of such an incident. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video yielded multiple old news articles which published images similar to screenshots of the video. As per the National Geographic article, the image shows a tsunami wave crashing a seawall in the city of Miyako, Japan back in 2011. CNN news video also featured a similar image in its report about 2011 Japan tsunami. More images of the 2011 tsunami devastation in Japan can be seen here.
Taking a cue from these news articles, further search with relevant keywords yielded us a Japanese news report video which featured the same video, the title of the video reads ‘Tsunami, Great East Japan Earthquake – Miyako city, Iwate Pref, Japan [11 Mar 2011]’. Further, a 2015 Tamil news video featured the same visuals in its report marking the fourth anniversary of the tsunami in Japan.
Further, we did not find any recent news reports about the overflow of ‘Three Gorges Dam’ in China. Hence, these pieces of evidence suggest that the video shows visuals of the devastation caused by the tsunami in Miyako city, Japan back in 2011.
To sum it up, the video of the 2011 tsunami devastation in Japan is passed off as China’s Three Gorges Dam overflow.