*Effects of Earthquakes on Buildings in the Ibero-Maghrebian Region DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94739*

It is evident that the buildings designed under previous or obsolete constructive standards will continue to be vulnerable even when reinforcement works are carried out, so it would be a good preventive task to carry out or review the seismic vulnerability maps, identifying the construction patterns used in each point of the map, their level of vulnerability and types of possible damage here described. It is also very important that the population be aware of the behavior of each type of structure in each city or neighborhood where they live, and customize the recommendations to the public on how they should respond during and after an earthquake at each time and place. Finally, it should be said that no country is exempt from being affected by a seismic disaster and therefore we must continue making efforts to increase the buildings resistance. Because inadequate construction patterns can be repeated and many buildings are exposed to the risk of collapse in very large geographic areas that can encompass several countries, it would be a great opportunity to improve earthquake-resistant designs by applying the goals of the 2030 Agenda, especially the goal 11 "cities", to significantly reduce the number of deaths and people affected, and substantially decrease the direct economic losses caused by disasters.
