What measures the strength of the ground shaking experienced during an earthquake?

The Richter Scale measures the strength of ground shaking experienced during an earthquake by defining the magnitude of seismic waves produced. Developed in the 1930s by Charles F. Richter, this logarithmic scale quantifies the energy released at the source of the earthquake, translating it into a single number. Each whole number increase on the scale represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude and roughly 31.6 times more energy release.

While the focal depth refers to the depth at which the earthquake originates beneath the Earth's surface, and a seismogram is the graphical recording of ground motion, they do not measure the shaking intensity directly. The term "magnitude" is often used synonymously with the Richter Scale but can also refer more broadly to other scales measuring earthquake size. Hence, the Richter Scale is specifically designed for measuring the strength of ground shaking, making it the most appropriate choice for this question.