This morning’s earthquake in Mexico, the strongest in a century for that country, caused widespread damage and so far more than a dozen dead have unfortunately been counted.
Buildings are badly damaged in certain areas and residents in Southern coastal cities are afraid to return to their houses as a tsunami warning was issued.
What was also very rare is that Mexicans who experienced the earthquake were able to capture one of the weirdest phenomena one can encounter during these events, the so called earthquake lights. In this video you can see the earth light up in green and white as buildings are shaking and people flee the streets in panic.
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The phenomenon is fairly unknown, but scientists have explained it by stating that the tectonic movement of rocks, such as quartz and other stones being shaken by the earth’s movement, sets off a chemical glow in the sky. This in turn sets off a piezoelectric field which produces flashes of light.
A study made in 2014 stated that the stress off the tectonic plates is able to break away pairs of negatively charged atoms, which then cause the plasma which is released by the Earth’s surface to light up when it touches the air.
As security forces and the Mexican government started to deal with the situation, President Enrique Peña Nieto tried to reassure everyone that all would be dealt with swiftly.
According to the Mexican government some 50 million people, almost half the country's population, felt tremors from a powerful earthquake off the country on Thursday night.
Tsunamis can still occur as many aftershocks are to be expected.
The official statement of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said: "Based on all available data, further widespread hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts,"
You could read about the earthquake immediately on the Goldwater this morning as soon as the story broke, our nightly report can be found here:
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4864918/Mysterious-flashes-light-sky-Mexico-earthquake.html
