Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in El Salvador’s Education Sector

Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in El Salvador’s Education Sector supported the government of El Salvador in formulating the country’s first national seismic risk mitigation plan for public school infrastructure. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources led the implementation of the project, with support from GPSS experts and the participation of a local university and engineering firm.  

Activities supported by the World Bank

• Development of a web-based platform to collect data for a school infrastructure baseline

• Application of the Global Library of School Infrastructure (GLOSI) methodology to analyze structural data for load-bearing masonry and reinforced concrete school buildings

• Diagnosis of the of the construction environment within which school infrastructure is planned, designed, constructed, retrofitted, and maintained

• Seismic risk assessment of school facilities nationwide

• Formulation of a proposal for a medium-term seismic risk mitigation program for school infrastructure

• Training of government staff and local partners on how to generate, understand and use risk information in decision making

Main outputs

• Baseline of 5,000 public school facilities with updated basic information on school infrastructure and structural characteristics for a representative sample of school building types

• App tool made available to collect data from school inspections 

• Diagnostic report of construction environment and management of school infrastructure

• Seismic risk assessment of public school portfolio, including estimates of potential damage and economic losses as a result of earthquakes

• Proposal for a national seismic risk mitigation program for public school infrastructure