A video showing a delapidated building being demolished after the devastating earthquake that hit parts of Türkiye and Syria in February 2023 is being shared with a false claim that it shows Kukis destroying Meitei houses in Manipur.
Ethnic clashes between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribe have rocked Manipur since May 3, 2023, with news reports estimating over 100 lives have been lost in the violence. India Today North East reported that several houses belonging to Kuki and Meitei communities have been destroyed during the violence that has gripped the state since last month.
The 22 seconds video which shows a building collapsing is being shared on Facebook with the caption, "Again Leak video, KuKi Destroying Meitei House's in Manipur #manipurisburning #manipurriots #ManipurOnFire #ManipurBurning #meitei #manipulators #kuki #ManipurNews #Manipur"
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video showing a building collapsing is from Hatay province in Türkiye after the devastating earthquake that hit the country in February 2023 and is not from Manipur during the ethnic violence that broke out last month.
We found several replies regarding the viral video stating that it is not from Manipur and pointing out that it was first uploaded on Tik Tok by a Turkish user. Taking a hint from this, we then searched for the Tik Tok post by the user @ismailfidan4406 and found that the clip was uploaded on April 13, 2023.
The viral video predates the ethnic clashes that erupted in Manipur in May 2023.
The user had posted it with the caption, "#tbt #hatay31 #demolition #hataydefne #yıkımekibi". One of the hashtags '#hatay31' refers to Hatay which is a province in Türkiye that was devastated after the February 2023 earthquake that struck the province badly damaging several buildings.
Taking a hint from that, we found several news reports on controlled demolition work in the province after the earthquake with several of the damaged buildings being demolished.
Additionally, on checking other videos uploaded by the Tik tok user @ismailfidan4406, we found several other short videos of controlled demolitions being carried out in the Turkish province.
The videos uploaded by the tik tok user below show several buildings that have already been damaged being demolished using a crane. A powerful earthquake struck large parts of Türkiye and Syria on February 6, 2023, claiming over ten of thousands of lives.