A scale for reporting earthquake intensity that is used in Japan and Taiwan. It is based on units of shindo, or seismic intensity, on an eight-point scale. For each shindo value it describes the effects on people, indoor situations, outdoor situations, wooden houses, buildings of reinforced concrete, lifelines (utilities, e.g. gas, water, electricity), ground and slopes, and peak acceleration.

http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/Activities/inttable.html Tables explaining the JMA seismic intensity scale.