Answer:
It estimates the total energy released from an earthquake
Step-by-step explanation:
The Richter scale was developed in the early half of the 1930s but seismologists from the US, namely, Charles Richter and Beno Gutenburg. The scale is essentially a logarithmic scale that calculates/estimates the largest peak of energy released during an earthquake. This peak is than proscribed a number from 1 to 10 on the scale with each number denoting the strength of an earthquake as 10 times the strength of the number below it. It accounts for movenent along the fault length (since that is essentially an earthquake) and the the Richter magnitude is calculated using a seismograph. Therefore, an earthquake that cannot be located on a seismograph cannot be incorporated on the Richter scale. There is no such directly proportionality between magnitude and amount of damage since a small earthquake in a densely populated area can cause way more damage than a strong earthquake is a desserted region. Furthermore, Richter scale determines the magnitude which impacts damage. Its not the other way round