`Impossible to Remain Standing': Japan's Quake Scale
- Shindo scale measures shaking in a specific location
- Kyushu quake triggered highest level of shaking on scale
The stone wall of Kumamoto Castle is damaged by the earthquake on April 15.
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On April 15, the day after the first in a series of damaging earthquakes struck a rural part of southern Japan, all of the nation’s major newspapers carried the same headline: "Shindo 7 in Kumamoto." No further explanation was needed.
When Japan’s earthquake-battered populace feel the ground shake under their feet, they turn on their TVs and open their Twitter feeds not to check the magnitude of the temblor but rather the shindo, or shaking intensity.