"Damper" is the term that describes the softness or harshness of the ride.
This is because the damper is the device responsible for controlling the movement of the suspension, controlling the springs of the vehicle, which allows the maintenance of the contact of the tires with the ground, comfort and stability of the vehicle and improves the stability of the steering. Depending on the work done by the damper, we can describe the softness or harshness of the ride.
I would say A) Short-term. Unless the earthquake is extremely powerful it would not be classified in the other three categories, so most earthquakes would be short-term
