Advances in urban planning and territorial management in the city of Lorca after earthquake of May 11, 2011

Abstract

Although the Lorca earthquake of May 11, 2011 had a moderate magnitude, it finally caused several casualties, being the first earthquake with deaths in Spain in the past 40 years, and important structural damages, forcing that about 10,000 people were unable to return to their houses. The city of Lorca is located in an environment of certain seismic vulnerability due to the presence of the Alhama fault, so the possibility of another earthquake cannot be ruled out. Nevertheless, management of the process and the mechanisms for damage assessment in urban areas are a topic which to date has scarce tradition in Spanish engineering. Therefore, the actions to be undertaken in the urban regeneration must be based on integral tools, such as seismic microzonation, and must affect certain fields of knowledge, such as territorial management and urban planning. This article presents new techniques for aftershock management and damage assessment, with the experience acquired in the 2011 earthquake, and analyzes the proposals that have been recently developed in the city of Lorca from the territorial point of view.