**7. Conclusions**

After the occurrence of earthquakes it is necessary to carry out a detailed field report, taking all the detailed photographs possible, to document and analyze the behavior and vulnerability of buildings according to the magnitude, distance and depth of the seismic event, in relation to the construction techniques used in the past and the adequacy of the current construction standards. The reconstruction of a territory severely affected by earthquakes cannot be planned using the same wrong techniques or with the standards in force that have demonstrated its inadequacy. Otherwise, a future earthquake with identical or higher parameters will again cause the same level of destruction.

For a resilient and sustainable reconstruction of devastated areas, a thorough review of the earthquake-resistant building standards and construction requirements is needed, aiming to ensure the resistance of structures to the higher stresses expected in the macroseismic area. A more precise seismic microzonation for smaller sectors is also required to get accurate structural strength calculations; the case of Lorca studied in this chapter shows that within the same city considered as a whole within the same level of seismic acceleration, specific points can undergo much greater accelerations, probably due to geological anomalies or discontinuities of the ground. Lessons learned like the ones we have discussed in this chapter should help to avoid repeating the same errors in other places. For this reason, it will be necessary to rethink whether the current construction patterns are a good example of good practices, whether they require a modification or reinforcement of the structural design, or whether they should be changed by other patterns more consistent with seismic activity in the area. It is also very important to note that the increase in costs of implementing earthquake-resistant systems in buildings will normally be much less than the volume of economic losses caused by earthquake damage.

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*Effects of Earthquakes on Buildings in the Ibero-Maghrebian Region*

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

We want to thank here all those people and institutions that have contributed with photographs to describe the damage of earthquakes on buildings, without which it would be very difficult to see and understand the characteristic effects of these natural phenomena on the different building structures. In the case of the earthquake in San Vicente del Cabo SW, our thanks to the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera and especially to Antonio Caneira, from the Projects and Contracts Division (DivPC), for his cordiality; with respect to the photographs of the earthquake in Al Hoceima, to the technical architect Patrick Murphy Corella for authorizing their use in this book; and our most sincere gratitude and debt to Antonio Peláez Pérez and Antonio Enrique Peláez Fuertes for the great photographic work they did in the city of Lorca the same afternoon the earthquake occurred and

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94739*

by disasters.

**Acknowledgements**

**Nomenclature**

for giving them up for use in this book.

ERD Earthquake-resistant design

IGN Instituto Geográfico Nacional

IERD Instituto Español para la Reducción de los Desastres

IPMA Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera
