The scale used to measure earthquakes is the Richter scale, which quantifies the seismic energy released during an earthquake. Developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter, it measures the amplitude of seismic waves recorded by seismographs. Each whole number increase on the Richter scale corresponds to a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and approximately 31.6 times more energy release. While the Richter scale was widely used for many years, moment magnitude scale (Mw) is now favored for measuring larger quakes because it provides more accurate readings for significant seismic events.