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| - Fact Check: Place where it never rains is not in Arunachal, here's the truth about village by the clouds
A video of a village has gone viral on social media, with the claim that it is from Arunachal Pradesh and that it never rains there. India Today's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading.
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India Today Fact Check
The video is from Al-Hutaib, Yemen. There is no evidence that it never rains at the location. Reports prove Arunachal's Pasighat receives periodic rainfall.
A video that has gone viral on social media shows a tranquil hill station with birds chirping and sunrays waiting to emerge from the golden horizon surrounded by dense and wispy clouds. Lines of houses on the ridges that correspond to the heights of the clouds add to the beauty of the scene.
People who shared this video claimed it was a village in Arunachal Pradesh. They added that because the village is above the clouds, it never rains here.
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, pic.twitter.com/jbRsxnIt7R — Balram Sharma (@sharma_views) July 21, 2022
Users on Facebook and Twitter have shared this video with a Hindi caption that roughly translates to, "This amazing village is in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. The only village in the world where it never rains because it lies over the height of the clouds."
India Today's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found out that the village is not located in Arunachal Pradesh as claimed. This video is from Yemen. Also, there is no evidence to support the belief that it never rains in this place.
AFWA PROBE
A reverse search of the viral video's screenshots led us to several web pages with the same footage. An Iranian video-sharing website named Aparat.com posted the video two years ago.
"The only village in the world where it never rains. This village is called Hatib, which is located in the capital of Yemen, and it is above the clouds," the Persian description of the video said.
Taking this as a cue, a subsequent keyword search took us to a photo gallery in Alarabiya News about the place named Al-Hutaib. However, the claim about it being a rain-free place was not mentioned here.
We also found the video tweeted by Hisham Al-Omeisy, a Yemeni conflict analyst, on September 19, 2019. "Hutaib village in Haraz. Some of the best #Yemen coffee made here," his caption read.
Hutaib village in Haraz. Some of the best #Yemen coffee made here. Sipping on hot cup to the sound of birds and literally being above the clouds..priceless. So much to lose, and next to nothing to gain by current ugly war. Need cooler heads and compromise for any chance of peace. pic.twitter.com/264McKUgaF — Hisham Al-Omeisy (@omeisy) September 18, 2019
DOES IT RAIN IN AL-HUTAIB?
Multiple articles published by Indian media mentioned that Yemen's Al-Hutaib is the only village in the world where it never rains. Reports from Amar Ujala, Zee News, TV9 Hindi, News18 and Anandabazar Patrika made this claim.
However, we could not find any reliable international reports claiming the same. It was very unlikely that they would miss out on such a curious fact.
Thus, we searched for the places to receive the least amount of rainfall around the globe. Some reliable results were found on Sciencelive.com and Forbes. However, there was no mention of Al-Hutaib on any of these lists.
We found a travelogue by photojournalist Mehlum S Sadriwala published by "DAWN" in June 2015. Sadriwala toured across Yemen and wrote about his experiences in Al-Hutaib.
While recounting memories, he noted the beauty of Al-Hutaib and that "it rained everyday". AFWA has left him a text message, and the story will be updated accordingly once he replies.
We also tried to find out if Arunachal Pradesh's Pasighat is deprived of rain. But reports from North-East Today and Arunachal Times confirm that Pasighat receives periodic rainfall.
Although we could not determine if the claim about Al-Hutaib being rainfall-free is completely false, it is safe to conclude that the claim about the video being from Arunachal Pradesh is baseless.
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