Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador

This policy brief describes a national multi-hazard study funded by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) for the Government of El Salvador to assess disaster risks to strategic, economic, and social infrastructure.

• A national multi-hazard study modelled nearly 100 hazard scenarios—including volcanic hazards, earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, and landslides—to evaluate the physical vulnerability of critical infrastructure such as healthcare facilities, schools, water and sewer infrastructure, electrical sub-stations, transmission towers, highway bridges, and major roads.
• The study estimates the total long term average annual loss to the analyzed infrastructure at US$35.5 million, which is 0.41% of the total infrastructure stock value. Floods and earthquakes account for nearly 80% of these expected losses, and schools are the infrastructure type most at risk based on annual average losses.
• Recommended strategies following the study include using risk estimates to prioritize retrofits and reinforcements, integrating national results into local planning, expanding risk metrics beyond replacement costs, analyzing climate change's impact on tsunamis, landslide risk, and flooding vulnerability, and maintaining collaboration between infrastructure ministries.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2016). Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador. https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-disaster-risks-infrastructure-el-salvador

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador. 2016. https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-disaster-risks-infrastructure-el-salvador.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador |date=20 September 2016 |url=https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-disaster-risks-infrastructure-el-salvador |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2016disaster, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2016}, month = sep, url = {https://cdkn.org/resource/policy-brief-disaster-risks-infrastructure-el-salvador}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }