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.

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