Editing Modified Mercalli intensity scale (section)

=== Correlation with magnitude ===
{| cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" style="width:20%; border:1px aqua ; background:#eee; margin:0 auto 0 auto; float:right;"
|-
! style="text-align:left" |Magnitude
| '''Typical Maximum Modified Mercalli Intensity'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" |1.0–3.0
| '''I'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" |3.0–3.9
| '''II–III'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" |4.0–4.9
| '''IV–V'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" |5.0–5.9
| '''VI–VII'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" |6.0–6.9
| '''VII–IX'''
|-
! style="text-align:left" |7.0 and higher
| '''VIII or higher'''
|-	
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | <small><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110623113247/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/mag_vs_int.php Magnitude/intensity comparison, USGS]</span></small>
|}

Magnitude and intensity, while related, are very different concepts. Magnitude is a function of the energy liberated by an earthquake, while intensity is the degree of shaking experienced at a point on the surface, and varies from some maximum intensity at or near the epicentre, out to zero at distance. It depends upon many factors, including the depth of the [[Hypocenter|hypocentre]], terrain, distance from the epicentre, whether the underlying strata there amplify surface shaking, and any directionality due to the earthquake mechanism. For example, a magnitude 7.0 quake in [[Salta]], Argentina, in 2011, that was 576.8&nbsp;km deep, had a maximum felt intensity of V,<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=M 7.0 – 26&nbsp;km NNE of El Hoyo, Argentina – Impact |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usp000hsdc/impact |website=ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog}}</ref> while a magnitude 2.2 event in [[Barrow-in-Furness]], England, in 1865, about 1&nbsp;km deep, had a maximum felt intensity of VIII.<ref name="BGS_online_EQ_database">{{Cite web |url=http://www.quakes.bgs.ac.uk/historical/query_eq/ |title=UK Historical Earthquake Database |publisher=British Geological Survey |access-date=2018-03-15}}</ref>

The small table is a rough guide to the degrees of the MMI scale.<ref name="comparison" /><ref name="abag">{{cite web|title=Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale|url=http://resilience.abag.ca.gov/shaking/mmi/|publisher=[[Association of Bay Area Governments]]|access-date=2017-09-02|archive-date=2023-03-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326023832/http://resilience.abag.ca.gov/shaking/mmi/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The colours and descriptive names shown here differ from those used on certain shake maps in other articles.