Running Away From Tidal Bore

Submission 5,497

Part of a series on YouTube. [View Related Entries]

About

Running Away From Tidal Bore refers to videos of people trying to escape from tidal bore at Kampar River, Riau, Indonesia. The videos, although from different people, share a series of connections that make them interesting to watch.

Origin

On December 6th, 2021, YouTube^[1] user Rina rina bono Channel cahaya pagi uploaded a vlog of herself in the Kampar River before the tidal bore came. In the video, she is almost swept away by the waves while keeping her smartphone off the water, then someone with a red shirt helps her. The video received more than 123,000 views in one month (shown below, left). On the next day, YouTube^[2] user Onex TM uploaded a vlog of himself in the same river. In the video, he runs away after the tidal bore comes for him, and is helped by the same woman from the previous video. It received 12,200 views in one month (shown below, center). On December 7th, 2021, YouTube^[3] user MEMBAYANG TV uploaded a video at the same location of himself smacking a banana tree, inspired by Salam Dari Binjai. The video received 9,700 views in one month (shown below, right).

[This video has been removed]

Spread

The meme gained popularity on Facebook after people combined the three different videos in one as a POV. For example on January 14th, 2021, Facebook^[4] user Segar Wakatsu uploaded a three-in-one video of it to show that the videos share characters and situations. The three-in-one video received more than 2,200 reactions and 4,700 shares in two days (shown below, left). On the same day, Facebook^[5] user Hafizi uploaded the same video but the 3rd video was mirrored to "Antah Berantah" group. The video received more than 15,000 reactions and 18,000 shares in two days (shown below, right).

On January 14th, 2021, Facebook^[6] user Kevin Renalda uploaded the fourth tidal bore video even though they only appear five seconds in the video. It received more than 1,000 reactions and 2,300 shares (shown below).

Some memes was created using the video. For example on January 14th, 2021, Facebook^[7] user Muhammad Ferdiansyah uploaded the video adding a game reference to "Mobile Legends: Bang-Bang" in the "Random Videos ID" Facebook group. The video received 68 reactions and 223 shares (shown below, left). On the same day, Facebook^[8] user Gak Pedulii uploaded the video adding a Minecraft reference to "OrangPosting 12" Facebook group. The video received more than 1,300 reactions and 597 shares (shown below, right).

Tonga Tsunami Footage Hoax

On January 15th, 2022, journalist Siraj Noorani uploaded a cropped version of MEMBAYANG TV's^[3] video to his Twitter^[9] and claimed it as footage of the Tsunami at Tonga not long after the volcanic island at Tonga erupted. The tweet received more than 4,400 likes and 2,000 retweets in two days (shown below).

On the same day, Australian media 9 News from their official YouTube^[10] channel uploaded a news video about the volcano eruption and also claimed the MAMBAYANG TV video as footage of the tsunami at Tonga, even using it as their thumbnail. The video received more than 222,000 views in two days (shown below).