Don’t Believe Every Flood Picture You See
There is nothing worse than being hit by a natural disaster. Whether it be earthquake, tsunami or landslide. Many people were affected by the big floods in Thailand last year so obviously we are all a little jumpy now that we are in the rainy season again. Will it flood as bad as last year? Will I lose all my belongings and livelihood? I don’t know about you, but I am glued to Twitter and Facebook trying to get the latest information. And some of the pictures so far have been shocking. Like this one that I spotted posted many times on both Twitter and Facebook this evening. But is it real?
The caption in Thai on Twitter said that it was from Amphoe Mae Sot in Tak Province in Northern Thailand. On the Facebook page below, a staff member of Democrat Party member Korn Chatikavanij shared a picture from “Watch Red Shirt”. The original caption in Thai clearly labels the picture as being taken at 5 p.m. at Ban Mae Sot in Tak. The Democrat Facebook page added the date of “15th September 2012” which makes it a few hours ago today. Now, there are three problems here. Firstly, this is an old picture that I remember floating around the internet before. Secondly, I am told by a Thai friend that Mae Sot doesn’t have palm trees like that. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is VERY doubtful it is even in Thailand. Take a close look at the windscreen. There are no tax and registration discs like we have in Thailand. Let me know if you can find the original source.
UPDATE 01: The Facebook page of the Democrat party member has now deleted the picture saying “Can not verify date of previous picture of flooding in Mae Sod, so will take down picture in the meantime.”
UPDATE 02: Thanks to @ishtar_ who tweeted me the link to the original news story for this picture. According to Sanook.com, this picture is of secondhand cars from Japan that were sitting at a pier in Mae Sot waiting to be taken across the Moei River to Burma when the river burst its banks. The story is dated 12 August 2012.
Mae Sot apparently did flood just a month ago, according to The Nation.
(Note the date of the Article is set at August 10, 2012 4:22 pm)
Source is here:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Mae-Sot-hit-by-floods-as-Moei-bursts-it-banks-30188072.html
It was then copy-pasted in a blog here:
http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-forum/thailand-information/2288-mae-sot-hit-floods-moei-bursts-banks.html
Note that the second entry dated 14 Aug 2012, 07:10 came from MCOT
and the next one dated 14 Aug 2012, 07:12 came from the Chiang Rai Times.
( http://www.chiangraitimes.com/ does really exist )
Also, a YouTube Clip titled Mae Sot Flood, uploaded by a Frederick Eliezer Gaghauna and dated the 9th Aug 2012 is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0jUvMydJns
So, it looks like Mae Sot did flood THIS year. Just how, we missed reading about it, is anyone’s guess…
Shalom
That is correct, see my second update in the article above. Someone on Twitter found the original article dated 12 August for this picture. There is a link to the Thai story in my update. Whether it was a picture from floods last year or not, it is wrong for the Democrats to post an old picture of a flood and label it as if it was from today. Intentionally misleading.