Claim: A viral video shows the glacier collapse that triggered the devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet on August 26, 2026.
Verdict: False
What is the claim?
A video showing a huge mass of snow and ice breaking away from a mountain is being widely shared on social media in connection with the deadly Nepal-Tibet floods. One Facebook user, Adv. Shubh Karan Singh, shared the footage claiming it was the first video of the Nepal disaster and showed the glacier that collapsed from the Tibetan side and caused the flooding in Nepal. The post suggests that the avalanche seen in the footage was directly responsible for the disaster.
What did we find?
The viral video is not from Nepal or Tibet. A reverse image search of keyframes from the footage leads to videos and reports published in July 2026, weeks before the Nepal-Tibet floods. The footage was published by Peruvian media outlets and was identified as showing an avalanche near Humantay Lagoon in Cusco, Peru.
Where was the video actually recorded?
The footage shows an avalanche occurring near Humantay Lagoon, a popular tourist destination in Peru’s Cusco region. Peruvian news outlet Diario Correo published the video on July 28, 2026, identifying the location as Cusco. The footage was reportedly recorded by tourists who witnessed the avalanche at Humantay Lagoon. Another Peruvian report, published by Perú 21 on July 27, also used a frame from the same footage. It reported that falling snow and chunks of ice startled tourists in the area, who moved away from the mountain slope for safety. No injuries or missing people were reported at the time. Independent fact-checking by Fact Crescendo also traced the video to Humantay Lagoon in Cusco and found that it had already been published online on July 28, before the Nepal floods.
Why does the timing matter?
The Nepal-Tibet disaster occurred on August 26, 2026. The viral footage, however, was already circulating in connection with the Humantay Lagoon avalanche in Peru in late July 2026. This makes it impossible for the video to be the first footage of the August Nepal-Tibet disaster. Other fact-checkers have independently reached the same conclusion, identifying the footage as an older video from Peru.
Was there actually a glacier-related disaster in Nepal and Tibet?
Yes. The fact that this particular video is false does not mean the Nepal-Tibet disaster itself was fabricated. On August 26, a major ice-and-rock collapse in the Himalayas triggered catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border. Reuters reported that the collapse sent debris into the Lhende Khola river and produced destructive flooding downstream. The genuine disaster involved a Himalayan glacier and rock collapse, but the viral footage being presented as evidence of that event comes from a completely different location.
Why is the viral video misleading?
The footage is genuine, but its context has been changed. This is an example of misinformation in which an authentic video of a real natural disaster is taken from one country and presented as footage of another disaster. Because the video visually resembles the type of glacier or avalanche event associated with the Nepal floods, viewers may assume the claim is genuine without checking when and where the footage was originally published.
Conclusion
The viral video does show a real avalanche, but it does not show the glacier collapse that triggered the Nepal-Tibet floods. Reverse image searches and earlier publications by Peruvian media trace the footage to Humantay Lagoon near Cusco, Peru, where tourists recorded an avalanche in July 2026. The video was online weeks before the Nepal-Tibet disaster. The Nepal floods were caused by a genuine Himalayan ice-and-rock collapse, but the viral video being circulated as evidence of that event is unrelated. The viral avalanche video is from Peru, not Nepal or Tibet. It was recorded near Humantay Lagoon in Cusco in July 2026 and has been falsely presented as footage of the Nepal-Tibet floods.