[singularity2001]

How do they appropriately measure earthquakes so deep? It had a magnitude of 8.1 on the surface level, however it happened at a depth of 32000 meters! so was it a magnitude 9 earthquake down there, or does the 8.4 already take into account the depth?

[matt_morgan]

32 Kilometers is not very far in earthquake terms. Machines all over the world can feel small earthquakes no matter where they happen, and this is a very big earthquake.

[JetSpiegel]

Magnitude measures energy released, so it takes into account the distance.

For damage done on the surface you have the subjective Mercali scale.

[sp332]

You can triangulate the location from many stations, and work backward to determine how strong it must have been at the origin.

[maxerickson]

Yes, the reported numbers account for the distance between the seismometer and the epicenter of the earthquake, they are the maximum intensity of the quake.