Explained: What Are Earthquake Lights? Know About The Rare Phenomenon

New Delhi: After the earthquake in North India on Tuesday (March 21), social media flooded with videos, reactions, and memes about the event. However, there were reports of something unusual as well - lights in the sky after the earthquake. A few netizens shared videos wherein the sky seemed to appear of a different colour such as orange or blue. Users put out their queries about the alleged phenomena, mainly looking for a possible reason behind the change of colour in the night sky. This phenomenon is what is broadly termed as 'earthquake lights', however, it is still under research and isn't a well-defined event. Take a look at the videos shared online:

#UFO #Haryana #yamunanagar lights seen in the sky just after earthquake #earthquake #india @ABPNews pic.twitter.com/OqBlIKhx0m — ashish khera (@ashukhera) March 21, 2023

Can someone explain this phenomenon? It is happening in the sky in my city (Yamunanagar, India). Colors of sky keeps changing at this point. Looks a bit like Northern Light. Please note that there's been an earthquake in India just a few minutes ago, maybe it's related to that? pic.twitter.com/UlHaEWzmXh — Mikasa Art (@MikasaArt23) March 21, 2023

EQL EARTHQUAKE LIGHTS seen in delhi, recieved via whatapp can't confirm it. But looks authentic.
Its luminous aerial phenomenon that appears in the sky at or near areas of tectonic stress, seismic activity.
Looks scary.. pic.twitter.com/cKQwXqKosU — Sorabh Tiwari  (@SorabhTiwari13) March 21, 2023

According to the United States Geological Survey, this phenomenon (earthquake lights) may be observed in the form of glows in the sky, balls of light, sheet lighting, or streamers. There is no consensus among geophysicists about if there is solid evidence for earthquake lights. But there are theories or hypotheses to explain the event scientifically.  A researcher named Freund studied the phenomenon and gave a possible explanation for it in the 2019 paper - 'Co-seismic Earthquake Lights: The Underlying Mechanism'. 

As mentioned earlier, this is only a theory to explain an event that scientists don't understand fully yet.

Another anecdotal phenomenon related to earthquakes is animals behaving strangely before an earthquake.  This has been reported for centuries now and there have been many research studies about it. This has been most widely reported and studied in China.