THE destructive power of earthquakes is measured in different ways, but the one most people have heard of is the Richter scale. Here’s how the force is calculated – and what it means if… ...

An earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher is considered major. The largest earthquakes in history have been of about magnitude 9. Major earthquakes release far more energy than any man-made explosion.

The scale has no upper limit, but no fault long enough to generate a magnitude 10 earthquake is known to exist, according to USGS. In some cases, earthquakes can be so small as to have a negative ...

5.0 - 5.9 magnitude: These tend to be VI - VII on the MM scale, meaning there could be slight damage depending on how the structure was built. 6.0 - 6.9 magnitude: These tend to be VII - IX on the ...

5.0 - 5.9 magnitude: These tend to be VI - VII on the MM scale, meaning there could be slight damage depending on how the structure was built. 6.0 - 6.9 magnitude: These tend to be VII - IX on the ...

A devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, Japan, left 10,000 dead in March 2011 Credit: AP:Associated Press What is the Richter scale? Seismologists have tried to measure the ...

The scale is open-ended, with no upper limit, and allows for decimal values—so earthquakes can be rated as 4.6, 7.9, etc. Earthquake magnitude classification. Micro ( 3.0): Usually not felt by ...