What scale is described for damage in an earthquake?

Technically, you can't tell damage from the Richter Scale, because the Richter scale rating of an earthquake stays the same no mater how far out you go from the epicenter. The scale that measures the damage of an earthquake (meaning the scale rating gets lower the further you go from the epicenter) is called the Mercalli Scale. The Mercalli Scale goes from II to XII (2 to 12) and the rating on the Mercalli Scale in which damage starts to occur is about 6. However, if you are going by the Richter Scale, damage at the epicenter would start at about 5.0