The intensity of earthquakes most commonly is measured through the Mercalli Intensity Scale, developed in 1884 and modified in 1931. For example, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake produces 10 times as much shaking as a magnitude 5.0 earthquake, and 100 times as much as a magnitude 4.0 earthquake. It is a logarithmic scale, meaning each increase in number represents a tenfold increase in shaking. This scale measures the total amount of energy released by a quake, as conveyed on a seismograph from the amount of ground movement produced by seismic waves. The magnitude or size of earthquakes historically is measured through the Richter scale, introduced in 1935.
The Richter Scale and Modified Mercalli Scale It concludes by comparing the wide range of economic damage of these past earthquakes to the damage caused by other types of past disasters in Oklahoma and the nation.
#EARTHQUAKE INTENSITY 1 TO 10 FULL#
It then reviews the full sample of economic damages caused by past large earthquakes in the United States and other developed countries. It first explains the types of damage generally caused by different magnitudes and intensities of earthquakes. This edition of The Oklahoma Economist looks at the economic damage caused in recent decades by large earthquakes in developed countries. In a May 2014 news release, the USGS said “the rate of earthquakes in Oklahoma has increased remarkably … significantly increasing the chance for a damaging magnitude 5.5 or greater quake in central Oklahoma.” _ A subsequent release in March 2015 said “reactivated faults that have produced thousands of Oklahoma earthquakes are capable of causing larger seismic events.” _ And in January, following two moderate quakes in a one-week period in an Oklahoma City suburb, a USGS geophysicist said, “When we see two magnitude 4s in a single fault, it starts to look like something could rupture.” _ The likelihood of a damaging earthquake has increased in parts of Oklahoma, according to the U.S.
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