The sky over Venezuela turned red after the earthquake
Residents of Caracas and other areas of Venezuela saw in the evening how the sky over the country turned red after the earthquake. This was announced on July 1 by the VTV channel.
"The red sky observed after an earthquake is an optical and meteorological phenomenon caused by a high concentration of particles in the air, known as Rayleigh scattering," the article says.
According to the TV channel, dust, sand and small rock particles entered the atmosphere after seismic activity. They changed the passage of sunlight, which is why red and orange hues began to prevail on the horizon.
According to VTV, the effect can be enhanced by strong winds or the presence of dust masses in the atmosphere, including those brought from the Sahara. Because of this, the unusual color of the sky is sometimes mistakenly perceived as a harbinger of new natural phenomena, although it is explained by physical processes in the atmosphere.
The TV channel also recalled the existence of so—called "earthquake lights", a rare geophysical phenomenon that occurs when rocks with a high quartz content crack and rub. According to VTV, these light flashes have a different origin and are not related to atmospheric light scattering, but they can also give the sky a red color.
The earthquake in Venezuela occurred on June 24. The epicenter was located 60 km northwest of the city of Valencia, as well as 28 km northeast of San Felipe. The magnitude of the natural disaster reached 7.5. The earthquake was the strongest in the country since 1900. According to the latest data, 1,943 people were killed and more than 10,5 thousand were injured.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on June 25 that Russia was considering the possibility of providing humanitarian assistance to Venezuela. The European Union, in turn, allocated €5 million for emergency assistance to the republic.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
