Name: Protection Against Earthquakes
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 2 min 28 s
Description: An earthquake is the shaking of the earth caused by the sudden movement of rock materials below the earth's surface. Let's see how we can protect ourselves during an earthquake.

Question

What is a Richter scale? How do we classify earthquakes based on magnitude on this scale?

Accepted Answer

Richter's scale is a scale used to measure the power of an earthquake. The damaging power or magnitude of an earthquake is expressed by a number measured on the Richter scale. It is a logarithmic scale.

The magnitude of an earthquake on the Richter scale is calculated from the amplitude of the largest seismic wave developed during an earthquake. Richter's scale is a logarithmic scale and not a linear scale and the devastating power of higher magnitude earthquakes on the Richter scale will be much more than that of lower magnitude earthquakes.

The earthquakes are classified based on the magnitude in this scale as per the following table.

The magnitude of an earthquake on the Richter scale Effects of an earthquake

Less than $3.5$ Not felt, not recorded.

$3.5 to 4.9$ Minor earthquakes, not felt, rarely cause any damage.

$5.0 to 6.0$ Light to moderate earthquakes can cause some damage to the buildings within a few kilometres of the epicentre.

$6.1 to 6.9$ Strong earthquakes can cause damage up to $100$
kilometres of the epicentre.

$7.0 to 7.9$ Major earthquakes can cause severe damage over large
areas.

$8.0$ or more Great earthquakes, very destructive and can all total
damage over large areas.

What is a Richter scale? How do we classify earthquakes based on magnitude on this scale?

Important Questions on Earthquakes

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