the old system for measuring earthquakes was a logarithmic scale.
so each full point (eg. from 6 to 7) was a factor of 10x.
so a 8.0 magnetude earthquake would be 100x more powerful than a magnetude 6 quake.
now, they use a new system apparently, but I believe it is still close to the old system, because the old system number is the one that always gets reported in the media.
still, an 8.8 quake is one of the strongest ever.
totally sucks. poor people.