The Manual of Civil Structures (MOC), a model design code in Mexico, has been in the process of being updated, and the new version of this code was published in 2008. A major update from the 1993 version was performed in the chapter for the seismic design of building structures. This paper summarizes the most relevant changes of this building code and their relation to research efforts conducted within Mexico and worldwide to improve the seismic design of building structures. One goal is to make the guidelines as transparent as possible to users, so that the design process will be clearer to structural engineers.

It is common practice to define the seismic design coefficients for earthquake-resistant building codes by choosing a fixed return period, leaving aside considerations about structural vulnerability and acceptable risk levels. This paper reviews the theory of the optimum design, introduced from almost the beginning of the formal probabilistic seismic hazard analysis framework and presents the results of its application in Mexico and Colombia using national seismic hazard models for the two countries. The obtained optimum design coefficients are compared with the ones obtained with the fixed return period approach. Results are presented with the aim of starting to discuss alternative approaches to select, in a more sensible way, the seismic design values included in the building codes.

S65 salud pública de méxico / vol. 60, suplemento 1 de 2018 El terremoto en Morelos: la experiencia operativa del INEEL Artículo originAl El terremoto 19S en Morelos: la experiencia operativa del INEEL en la evaluación del riesgo estructural