Fake Flood: AI Videos and Old Footage Exploit Nepal’s Disaster
From AI-generated destruction to a scripted entertainment clip and footage from Japan, unrelated visuals are being presented as scenes from Nepal’s devastating floods. Here’s what our fact-check found behind three viral claims.
A 64-year-old woman named Chandika Shrestha was rescued alive in Nepal on 5 September 2026, after being trapped under the rubble of her collapsed home for 10 days following the devastating floods and landslides that struck the country in late August. As the massive impact of the disaster continues to unfold in Nepal with over 1,300 confirmed dead and nearly 5,000 still missing, a parallel flood of misinformation is circulating across social media. Numerous AI-generated videos and old footage from various countries are shared, creating false narratives.
Claim 1: The orphaned children of Nepal
A video showing two young children, with one carrying the other on her back, went viral on social media, amid claims that the footage was from Nepal. On 5 September, an X user, Sushma (@DubeySushm49030), shared the video with the caption, “The children here need a lot of help” and “Pray for Nepal 🙏”.
As of 8 September, the post had garnered more than 17,300 views, 541 reposts, and 2,000 likes.
Several users on X and Instagram also shared the video.
We analysed the keyframes of the viral video and conducted a reverse image search. We found that the video was initially uploaded on 26 July 2026 by a YouTube account named ‘Thương Lắm Vùng Cao Ơi ’ (@Thuonglamvungcaooi ).
The video was captioned, “The children need help – Giày mới cho con”. The latter part of the caption is in Vietnamese. The Vietnamese caption of the video translates as: “ New shoes for the children.” In addition, the video was uploaded on 26 July 2026, which predates the Nepal floods.
This confirms that a video from Vietnam was falsely linked to the recent floods in Nepal.
Claim 2: The devastating flood ravaging the city
On 27 August, @AparjitaNefes shared a video on X that purportedly shows footage of the devastating consequences of the floods in Nepal. The post features four videos.
The video has amassed 334,000 views, 706 likes and 298 reposts.
We analysed the four videos. We found that the visuals in the first video showed several discrepancies commonly associated with AI-generated or digitally manipulated content. The OBC team used Hive AI to assess whether the video was generated using AI.
The results estimated that the video had a 99.4% likelihood of being AI-generated.
For the fourth video, we conducted a reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video. This led us to a compilation posted on YouTube by Japanese newspaper Sankei News dating back to 3 July, 2021. The video predates the Nepal 2026 disaster.
Hence, the first is AI-generated, while the fourth is misleading footage that originally appeared in Japan.
Claim 3: The dead victims of the Nepal floods
On 6 September, an X user, Sushma (@DubeySushm49030), shared the video with a caption, “Pray for Nepal 🙏”.
The video shows several women lying motionless on the ground, appearing to be dead near the river. As of 8 September, the post has received 64,800 views and 110 likes.
We fact-checked the claim and found that Instagram user Simran uploaded the source video on 3 August.
The video is a scripted clip created for entertainment purposes. We also found that the same video went viral during the Assam floods.
Our analysis found that the viral videos were misleadingly shared as footage from the Nepal floods. The first video was originally uploaded to a Vietnamese YouTube account. The second video was assessed as likely AI-generated. The third video was posted by an Instagram user on 3 August as a scripted entertainment clip. Therefore, the viral posts misleadingly present unrelated footage as recent incidents from the Nepal flood disaster.
