If you are on social media, you have definitely been and probably shared pictures of the burning Uttarakhand forests. Well, delete that shit. Because it ain’t real.
The forest fires aren’t even close to as severe as social media posts suggest, even as the incidents have affected about 81 hectares of land in the state over the last five days, causing losses worth Rs 2.19 lakh, The Print reported.
The department’s statement came after social media was flooded with images showing forest fires, claiming to be from Uttarakhand. Multiple news portals had shared these images. Regrettably that includes us. However, these errors have since been rectified.
The above image was actually posted 4 years ago and was credited to Anup Sah Photography.
Another image that is going viral is this:
The Quint found that this was uploaded on Getty Images in September 2007 and was taken on 18 September 2007 during the California wildfire season.
Uttarakhand Forest Department has also released a statement regarding the same.
So, yeah, learn your lesson and don’t share fake news!