Simulation Passed off as Mt Sinabung’s Eruption in Indonesia

The video is actually of a simulation created in 2017 as a research project carried out at Victoria University.

A viral video falsely claimed that it is of Mt Sinabung in Indonesia.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

A video which has gone viral on social media has been shared as showing a volcanic eruption of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra in Indonesia.

Several users have shared the video on Facebook with the same claim.

The video is viral on Facebook.(Photo Courtesy: Facebook screenshot)

The Quint received a query about the claim made by the video via its WhatsApp helpline.

TRUE OR FALSE?

The claim with which the video has been shared is false. The video is not of Mt Sinabung in Indonesia. It is, in fact, is a simulation which was created as a part of a research project in 2017.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We did a frame-to-frame analysis using InVID, a video verification tool, and then reverse-searched each frame on Yandex. This led us to an article published by The Sun.

Yandex led us to The Sun’s article.(Photo Courtesy: Yandex screenshot)

The Sun’s article says that the video is actually of a simulation that was created in 2017 as a research project carried out at Victoria University. The simulation depicted the magnitude of the destruction which will be caused in the event of a New Zealand supervolcano erupting.

According to The Sun, the simulation intended to show what the view of the (unfortunate) event would be from a living room in Auckland.

The article mentions the simulation was created as part of a research project. (Photo Courtesy: The Sun screenshot)

VOLCANIC ERUPTION AT MOUNT SINABUNG

A volcanic eruption that spewed fumes as high as 7 km in the sky occurred at Mount Sinabung in Indonesia’s North Sumatra on 9 June, reported The Guardian. The visuals of the volcano which were shared by The Guardian are very different from the ones shown in the viral video.

According to news agency IANS, a huge amount of ash and smoke shot out of the volcano at 16:28 pm Jakarta time. This was followed by hot ash spreading to the southeast and the south of the crater up to 3.5 km and 3 km respectively, the country's national volcanology agency said in a statement, reported Xinhua news agency.

(With inputs from IANS)

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