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The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale used as a comparative measure of earthquake levels. Employed by scientists on Earth since the 20th century, magnitude 5 was considered moderate, while 8 or higher would result in significant casualties and destruction.

History and specifics[]

The unstable planet Fillandia was prone to earthquakes high on the Richter scale. The Elarioh Saliwah cataclysm was a period of destructive earthquakes and volcanic activity that brought the world's Ariolo civilization nearly to ruin. (FASA RPG module: Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update)

On 27 April 2005, an offshore 6.2-level quake in Earth's Pacific Ocean produced a 40-meter high tsunami that struck Malibu, California. The event killed 2,700 people along the coast and two days later triggered the San Andreas fault, at least according to Captain Hu-Lin Radisson in 2374. (TOS novel: Dark Victory)

This disaster did not occur in real-world events; the novel was written in 2000.

In the year 2036, a 7.8-level earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco. By the 22nd century, billerite had been developed as a means of fortifying structures to absorb up to a 6.5-level tremor. (TNG - Starfleet Academy novel: Loyalties)

In 2267, while attempting to impart an axial spin to the planet Rimillia with equatorially located planetary engines, the world endured a large number of earthquakes, including one of force 7, two at force 10, and one at force 11. (TOS novel: Twilight's End)

In 2270, when a Romulan military outpost self destructed on Aritani, it triggered an earthquake of magnitude 6.3. (TOS novel: Mindshadow)

In 2273, two magnitude 6 and one magnitude 10 earthquakes struck Rakatan prior to the eruption of Rakatan Mons. (TOS novel: Firestorm)

In 2274, increasing tremors on Argus IV prompted Captain James T. Kirk to evacuate a colony of thermium miners. Severe quakes increased to magnitude 12 every nine minutes, leading to the planet breaking apart to hatch a gigantic cosmozoan lifeform. (TOS comic: "It's a Living")

In 2353, an 8.3-level earthquake struck five kilometers below the ocean floor more than 1,000 kilometers from Atlantis station on Earth. Subsequent quakes came closer to the station. (TNG - Starfleet Academy novel: Atlantis Station)

In the 2360s or 2370s on Sprague IX, Kathryn Janeway witnessed a 7.9-magnitude quake. (VOY - Invasion! novel: The Final Fury)

In 2368, two earthquakes Geordi La Forge estimated at 8 or 8.5 struck Penthara IV not far from where he was overseeing gas pocket drill sites. (TNG episode: "A Matter of Time")

In 2368, Aaron Conor said his biosphere on Moab IV could withstand an 8.7 quake on the scale, but Data said an approaching stellar core fragment would trigger tectonic shifts stronger than that. (TNG episode: "The Masterpiece Society")

While a distress call in 2368 claimed that a magnitude 9.5 quake hit Phaedra in the Xerxes Gamma system, and many interior walls of outpost Science Station Beta Epsilon had collapsed, Lars Fredricks noted that the outpost's foundations were not appropriately damaged and the environment showed no evidence of seismic activity. (TNG novel: Grounded)

On Selva in 2368, Ro Laren monitored seismic levels. At one point tectonic shifts created tremors between 4 and 5 on the scale. Later, Data felt what he described at a 9.8-level tremor. (TNG novel: War Drums)

In 2369, the USS Enterprise-D detected a mysterious 3.2-level quake that lasted 0.7 seconds and shook the entire planet Velex. It was later determined to be caused not from an earthquake, but by simultaneously disengaging a grain-producing technology across the world. (TNG novel: Foreign Foes)

In 2371, impacts from Conquest's orbital bombardment shook three areas on Veruna IV with a magnitude of 4.2. (VOY novel: The Murdered Sun)

In 2374, when a tremor shook the bridge of the USS Enterprise-E, William T. Riker likened it to a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. (TNG novel: Q-Space)

In 2376, a 6.5-level tremor was the first of several earthquakes on Evora. The planet was unstable, but millennia earlier an unknown species constructed stabilizers to prevent extinction-level geologic catastrophes from happening on the planet. (SCE eBook: Past Life)

In 2381 of the First Splinter timeline, a magnitude 9.5 quake in Lejico, Ardana was the first experienced in more than a millennium. Tectonic instability was a result of the Borg Invasion of 2381. Casualties included 203 Ardanans and four members of the USS Sugihara's crew. (ST - Destiny novel: A Singular Destiny)

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