What Are Earthquake Lights? Why does the Sky Light Up Seconds Before the Earthquake?

The eyes are such an organ, without which this life and the entire world would probably be just a fantasy as they allow us to see. No matter how good one's eyesight is, it is of no use without external light, and there are many forms of Light Phenomena in nature that have so far been described by science, one of which is "Earthquake lights". 

It is a very rare event when flashes are observed in and around regions of the sky under seismic activity, and tectonic stress. It can even occur during volcanic eruptions. According to scientists, the lights seen in the form of flashes, or balls of light in the sky a few seconds before or during an earthquake are called earthquake lights. It can also be in the form of sheet lightning or streamers as if the sky is changing color. Although scientists have not fully understood the reason for this phenomenon.

In the year 2009, a man in Italy looked out of his kitchen window towards a hill, where he spotted some strange lights in the air, immediately after which he got suspicious and took his family to a safe place. He did so because he had already read about Earthquake lights, so he understood, but there was a lot of loss of life and property in that earthquake. Even more similar cases have come to the fore and several theories have been given regarding Earthquake Lights. According to researchers, it's an electrical process that occurs when nature stresses certain rocks, such as Basalt and gabbro, that have minor defects in their crystals, and when an earthquake's seismic waves hit them, an electrical charge builds up or is released.

These charges join together to form a plasma-like state and while traveling at very high velocity through the cracks in the rocks, burst onto the surface and emerge in various shapes and colors, emitting such lights. Earthquake lights are usually seen before or during an earthquake, but rarely after, so research is ongoing to predict earthquakes. However, apart from these lights, it has also been observed that there is some strange change in the behavior of animals, birds, and sea creatures before the earthquake to come. Since 2016, earthquake lights have been observed several times in many countries.