Here the short form (section 8 of the published
scale) is reproduced. It gives the character of each degree in a very simplified
and generalised form for educational purposes.
This is not suitable
for, and not intended for, use in assigning intensities.
EMS
Intensity |
Definition | Description of typical
observed effects
(abstracted) |
I | Not felt | Not felt. |
II | Scarcely felt | Felt only by very few individual people at rest in houses. |
III | Weak | Felt indoors by a few people. People at rest feel a swaying or light trembling. |
IV | Largely observed | Felt indoors by many people, outdoors by very few. A few people are awakened. Windows, doors and dishes rattle. |
V | Strong | Felt indoors by most, outdoors by few. Many sleeping people awake. A few are frightened. Buildings tremble throughout. Hanging objects swing considerably. Small objects are shifted. Doors and windows swing open or shut. |
VI | Slightly damaging | Many people are frightened and run outdoors. Some objects fall. Some houses suffer slight non-structural damage like hair-line cracks and fall of small pieces of plaster. |
VII | Damaging | Most people are frightened and run outdoors. Furniture is shifted and objects fall from shelves in large numbers. Many well built ordinary buildings suffer moderate damage: small cracks in walls, fall of plaster, parts of chimneys fall down; older buildings may show large cracks in walls and failure of fill-in walls. |
VIII | Heavily damaging | Many people find it difficult to stand. Many houses have large cracks in walls. A few well built ordinary buildings show serious failure of walls, while weak older structures may collapse. |
IX | Destructive | General panic. Many weak constructions collapse. Even well built ordinary buildings show very heavy damage: serious failure of walls and partial structural failure. |
X | Very destructive | Many ordinary well built buildings collapse. |
XI | Devastating | Most ordinary well built buildings collapse, even some with good earthquake resistant design are destroyed. |
XII | Completely devastating | Almost all buildings are destroyed. |
Source: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/pb5/pb53/projekt/ems/index.html