Yeah that makes sense, people talk about what magnitude x "feels" like, but they're really describing an earthquakes intensity rather than magnitude. You don't

Yeah that makes sense, people talk about what magnitude x "feels" like, but they're really describing an earthquakes intensity rather than magnitude. You don't directly "feel" the magnitude. Any given magnitude quake is going to feel very different for people in different situations - eg how far away, how deep, soil conditions, how tall the building they are in etc... Magnitude is related to how much energy is released - useful for seismologists and records, while intensity is related to ground acceleration and subjective effects which is useful for structural engineers and the public caught in one. eg that 6.2 magnitude Christchurch quake mentioned elsewhere still managed to produce some of the highest ever recorded vertical ground accelerations despite releasing a tiny fraction of what a really big quake can do.