The Natural Hazards Research Centre has been interested in Damage Scales for the last few years. Our main interest is in damage to buildings - the selection of scales presented here reflects this interest.
In most cases Damage Scales are Intensity Scales but things aren't simple. The Modified Mercalli Intensity Scales is based (largely) on damage. It is quite separate from the Richter earthquake magnitude scale. The Fujita scale uses damage (intensity) information to come to conclusions about tornado wind speeds (magnitude (central pressure, wind speed, surge height) to infer potential damage. The TORRO tornado scale purports to be a magnitude scale but (usually) operates as an intensity scale as it is (usually) based on damage.
We have indicated elsewhere some of the qualities of a good scale .
We have also compiled our own Damage Index which owes quite a bit to a few of the scales presented here.
We hope you find these pages on Damage Scales useful. We are happy to add other scales to these pages so send links or comments to riskfrontiers@els.mq.edu.au. If you send corrections or useful comments on a specific scale in a form we can use easily, we will add them to the appropriate page. We look forward to your comments.
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