People record mysterious lights in the sky during New Zealand quake

During the recent tremors that rocked the city of Christchurch in New Zealand recently, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake wreaked much havoc in the area. But intriguingly since the event, several YouTubers have been uploading what appears to be footage of mysterious flashes of light in the sky during the time of the quake. The lights seem to resemble the intense lightning during a thunderstorm. And these lights are multi-colored, cycling through various shades during their intermittent yet ebullient pulses.

As witnesses noted, this lightning appeared to coincide with the time the intensity of the earthquake was at its peak. While some YouTube commentators reckon it might have been due to power lines falling or electrical transformers exploding, the local power company went on to dismiss this, given the location of the flashes was somewhere over the ocean.

This could be attributed to a phenomenon called earthquake lightning, which relates to the electric properties of quartz-containing rock. These rocks could interact with the Earth’s magnetic field to generate ground-based lightning flares. An alternative theory points to rocks like basalt and gabbro--when these have defects, they may discharge electricity when hit by a seismic wave. 

In the past these lighting effects appeared so mysterious that many locals even attributed them to UFO-based activity.