Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador

A 2016 policy brief reports that El Salvador's strategic infrastructure faces an average annual loss of US$35.5 million due to natural hazards, primarily earthquakes and floods. Education facilities are the most financially exposed infrastructure type. The report recommends using these risk estimates to prioritize retrofits, integrating national data into local municipal planning, and accounting for climate change, which may double the frequency of peak flood events.

• El Salvador exhibits extreme vulnerability to natural hazards, with over 90% of the population and approximately 96% of the gross domestic product (GDP) located in high-risk areas.
• The total long-term average annual loss (AAL) for the seven studied infrastructure categories is estimated at US$35.5 million, which represents 0.15% of the 2012 annual GDP and 0.41% of the total value of the infrastructure stock.
• Earthquakes and floods are the primary drivers of financial risk, accounting for nearly 80% of expected losses. While earthquakes are a key risk for highways, floods present the most pronounced risks for educational facilities.
• Among the infrastructure types analyzed, education facilities face the greatest financial exposure due to the high number of buildings and their low resilience to seismic activity.
• Healthcare facilities show significant expected losses nationwide, with higher concentrations in coastal areas (up to 4% of total stock value) due to amplified earthquake effects from unconsolidated soils, as well as flooding and tsunamis.
• Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of tropical storms, hurricanes, and intense rainfall, thereby increasing the risk of flooding, landslides, and lahars. Modelling suggests peak flood events in El Salvador could become twice as frequent in the future, potentially making flood risk equal to earthquake risk.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2016). Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AALA-0010-Component-3-Policy-Brief-EN-final-June2016.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador. 2016. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AALA-0010-Component-3-Policy-Brief-EN-final-June2016.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Disaster Risks to Infrastructure in El Salvador |date=24 June 2016 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AALA-0010-Component-3-Policy-Brief-EN-final-June2016.pdf |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 = jun, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AALA-0010-Component-3-Policy-Brief-EN-final-June2016.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }