The quake that rocked central Italy Monday was magnitude 6.2 on today's generally used MMS scale, compared to 5.8 on the Richter scale that is no longer widely used, experts stressed.
MMS ''provides a better estimate of the irradiated energy'' while Richter ''only measures the waves closest to the epicenter,'' Italy's Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute said.
On the new scale the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 225,000 people in 11 countries was 9.1-9.3 in magnitude.
