Two months after the 5.7 magnitude earthquake, and more than 2,000 aftershocks, Utah leaders have a better understanding of the damage caused. Earthquakes caused $70M in Utah public infrastructure ...

But just because the magnitude of an earthquake is bigger does not always mean the resulting damage is worse. For example, in January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 quake struck Haiti.

People inspect damages in Marrakech, Morocco, following a powerful earthquake. Sept. 9, 2023. Khadija Benabbou/picture alliance via Getty Images ...

The powerful earthquake prompted tsunami warnings and killed dozens. On many people’s minds was the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused a nuclear disaster.

The 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes appear to have caused shaking in the range of 20 to 50% of gravity. A proportion of these buildings thus failed at shaking intensities lower than the "design code".