Several pages and posts on Facebook (FB) are erroneously claiming that a super typhoon is going to hit the country and cause massive damage. Government authorities have debunked this claim.
Published on July 18, one of the fake posts read:
“???? ??: ??????? ????? ??????????? ?? ???????, ??????? ?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ???-???, ???????????? ??? ?????! … Ang bagyo, na tinaguriang Super Typhoon Lakas, ay tumama sa silangang bahagi ng bansa kaninang madaling araw.
(Just in: A typhoon, that is as strong as [super typhoon] Yolanda, will enter the country according to PAGASA which is alerting everyone! … The typhoon, named super typhoon Lakas, hit the eastern part of the country earlier this midnight).”
Attaching a satellite image of Super Typhoon Yolanda back when it devastated the country in 2013, the spurious posts further claimed that the so-called super typhoon Lakas has maximum wind speed of 250 kilometers per hour and will bring severe rainfall to the country.
The fake FB posts share links to a website supposedly showing places affected by the super typhoon, but it only leads to pages from e-commerce websites.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) have debunked the falsehood making the rounds online.
In a July 18 FB post, PAGASA belied claims of a “Yolanda-like” super typhoon hitting the country. “Avoid believing and sharing information from unconfirmed and unreliable sources,” the weather agency further said in Filipino.
Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) is the deadliest storm to ever hit the country in recorded history, killing over 6,000 people and injuring 28,000 individuals in November 2013. At its peak, it reached a maximum sustained wind of 315 kilometers per hour.
The official FB page of DILG IV-A also published a July 18 post denying the claims and warning the public against such “false information.”
These false posts surfaced amid a PAGASA weather forecast of a low pressure area that will bring moderate to heavy rains to certain areas of the country.
At least three FB pages – Philippine Weather Update (created on July 17), Metro Headlines (Dec. 9, 2023) and Toktik (March 14, 2022) – published the wrong claim, collectively garnering over 2,200 reactions, 650 comments and 14,000 shares.
