Claim
A video showing a large golden Buddha statue surrounded by powerful floodwaters has gone viral on social media following the devastating August 2026 Nepal-Tibet flash floods.
Posts sharing the video claim that homes, roads and other structures were swept away by the flood, while the Buddha statue remained standing undamaged despite the force of the water. Some users have presented the footage as a remarkable or miraculous scene from the recent Nepal disaster.
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| Buddha statue in Nepal Flood |
Verdict: Misleading
The Buddha statue is real and the footage genuinely shows flooding in Nepal, but it was not recorded during the August 2026 Nepal-Tibet flash floods.
The viral video was recorded during flooding in 2024, nearly two years before the recent disaster. The statue is located near the Narayani River in Narayangadh/Bharatpur, Chitwan, in southern Nepal—not at the location of the August 2026 flash flood near the Nepal-Tibet border.
What We Found
To verify the viral claim, we first examined the video and tried to establish where and when the footage was recorded rather than relying on the caption accompanying the post.
The statue's distinctive appearance made it possible to search for matching images and videos online. A reverse-image search of frames from the viral footage led to older material showing the same statue and the same flood scene.
We found a YouTube video titled “Buddha statue hit by the flood in Narayani River - Nepal Flood”, which was published by Original Buddhas on September 30, 2024. The footage shows the same statue, camera angle, colour tones and movement of the water seen in the video now being circulated as footage from the 2026 disaster.
This is significant because it establishes that the viral footage existed long before the August 2026 floods.
The Statue Was Filmed During an Earlier Nepal Flood
The location of the statue provides another important clue.
The Buddha statue shown in the video stands beside the Narayani River in the Chitwan district of Nepal. Independent verification using location imagery has identified the same statue at this location.
The scene is therefore not fabricated—the statue really was surrounded by floodwater. The problem is the date and context attached to the footage.
The same scene was documented during Nepal's 2024 monsoon flooding. A photograph published in July 2024 showed floodwater reaching the base of the Buddha statue at Narayangadh.
A Journalist Confirmed the Origin of the Video
Our investigation also found an important piece of first-hand evidence.
Fact-checkers contacted Ramesh Kumar Paudel, a journalist based in Narayangadh who works with Kantipur Daily. Paudel confirmed that he had recorded the footage that is now circulating online in 2024 and had previously shared it on his social-media account.
He also provided a photograph showing the water level around the statue during the August 2026 floods. The water level in that recent photograph was considerably lower than what is seen in the viral video.
This provides independent confirmation that the dramatic footage being circulated is not a recording of the 2026 event.
What Happened During the 2026 Nepal Floods?
The August 2026 disaster itself was very real and caused widespread destruction.
On August 26, 2026, a catastrophic flash flood struck Nepal's Rasuwa district near the border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The event followed a major collapse involving ice, rock and debris, sending a powerful surge downstream through river systems and severely damaging settlements and infrastructure. Reuters has reported the continuing search for thousands of people still missing after the disaster.
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| An aerial aftermath view following flash floods at Devighat, Bidur Municipality, in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 27, 2026. | Photo Credit: PRABIN RANABHAT/AFP |
The floodwaters eventually travelled downstream toward the Narayani River. However, the water level at Chitwan was not comparable to the extreme conditions shown in the old viral video.
Fact-checkers found that the statue's location was more than 110 kilometres from the Nepal-Tibet border area where the disaster began. Recent footage and local information indicate that the statue was not overwhelmed in the way shown in the viral clip.
Why the Viral Claim Is Misleading
This case is a good example of how genuine footage can become misinformation when it is given a false date or context.
The video itself is not fake. The Buddha statue is real, the flooding is real, and the footage was genuinely recorded in Nepal.
What is false is the suggestion that the footage was taken during the 2026 Nepal-Tibet flash flood.
The old video was simply recirculated after the new disaster, allowing viewers to assume that the statue had survived the recent catastrophe.
Did the Buddha Statue Actually Remain Undamaged?
The viral caption often focuses on the idea that the Buddha statue remained completely unharmed while the surrounding area was devastated.
That conclusion cannot be drawn from the viral video.
The footage being used to support that claim is from 2024, not 2026. Therefore, it cannot serve as evidence of how the statue fared during the August 2026 disaster.
In fact, the evidence we found indicates that the water level around the statue during the 2026 event was substantially lower than in the viral footage.
So the question is not whether the statue can physically withstand floodwater. The viral video simply does not show the statue during the recent flood.
Independent Fact-Checks Reached the Same Finding
Our investigation is also consistent with separate examinations of the footage.
Söch Fact Check traced the footage to flooding in September 2024 and independently identified the statue's location in Chitwan.
Similarly, Fact Crescendo's investigation found that the viral footage had already appeared during Nepal's 2024 floods and obtained confirmation from a local journalist who had filmed it.
An AFP report on the viral video also traced the footage to September 2024 and found that the statue is located in Bharatpur, Chitwan, more than 110 km from the 2026 disaster area.
These investigations used different pieces of evidence—including reverse-image searches, older publications, location verification and local testimony—but arrived at the same conclusion.
Conclusion
The viral video does not show a Buddha statue surviving undamaged during the 2026 Nepal-Tibet flash floods.
Our investigation found that:
- The video is genuine, not an AI-generated scene.
- It was recorded during flooding in Nepal in 2024.
- The Buddha statue is located near the Narayani River in Chitwan.
- The same footage was published online in September 2024.
- A journalist who recorded the footage confirmed its 2024 origin.
- The statue was not subjected to the same extreme flooding shown in the viral video during the August 2026 disaster.
Therefore, the viral claim is misleading because old footage has been presented as evidence from a different flood.
Verdict: Misleading — Old Video Shared With False 2026 Context
Sources
Fact Crescendo – Buddha Statue “Surviving” Nepal's Recent Floods? The Viral Video Is Old – From 2024
Söch Fact Check – Video of Buddha statue in floodwaters is falsely linked to the Nepal-Tibet floods
AFP – Old Video of Buddha Amid Floodwaters Dates to 2024, Not the 2026 Nepal-Tibet Disaster
Reuters – Latest reporting on the Nepal flood disaster and ongoing recovery
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