What determines how strong an earthquake is?

Seismic waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that travel through the Earth; they are recorded on instruments called seismographs. Seismographs record a zig-zag trace that shows the varying amplitude of ground oscillations beneath the instrument. Sensitive seismographs, which greatly magnify these ground motions, can detect strong earthquakes from sources anywhere in the world. The time, locations, and magnitude of an earthquake can be determined from the data recorded by seismograph stations. Earthquakes can be measured through the Richter Scale...

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The depth at which the rocks move, the type of fault involved, and how active the tectonuc plates are can be used to determine how strong an earthquake is. Generally, when quakes occur deep within the crust, much of the energy is lost, thus the quake is less likely to cause major damage. When it is a shallow quake, much more damage results.