1st Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering 1CroCEE 2021

This paper proposes a list between the different variables that affect the vulnerability of a building after an earthquake. The significance of urban planning and other urban factors affecting the vulnerability of buildings have not received special attention either from the government or researchers. The lasts research of the vulnerability of buildings are Benedetti and Petrini (Inf Constr 18:66-78, 1984), the EMS-98, the Risk-EU project (2003) and Martínez-Cuevas (2020). The proposed methodology was applied to a database with information about buildings and hypothetical damage grade in Guatemala City. Guatemala City is in a high seismic hazard in the Caribbean plate and surrounded by the North American and Cocos plates (B. Benito 2012). Three main tectonic features have been distinguished around Guatemala: The subduction zone in the plate boundary Cocos-Caribbean; the local faults situated in the volcanic chain; and the Polochic-Motagua in the North America-Caribbean plate boundary. The Guatemala case is unique due to these three seismic origins: Interphase subduction related to the volcanic chain; In-slab subduction related to the Cocos-Caribbean boundary; and Crustal Zone related to the North America-Caribbean boundary. The most destructive event in the last decades in Central America was the earthquake associated with the Motagua fault, Mw 7.6, causing 22,000 deaths in Guatemala City in 1974. The most recent destructive earthquake in Guatemala was associated with the Cocos-Caribbean boundary in San Marcos, Mw 7.4, causing 45 deaths in Guatemala. The San Marcos earthquake reminds Guatemala of the importance of the earthquake code and the seismic hazard evaluation of the country. The results of the described analysis will provide useful insights for areas with seismic risk.