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THE EL SALVADOR EARTHQUAKES
IN 2001
E
L SALVADOR is the smallest
country in Central America. It
is less than one-tenth the size of the
UK and has only 6 million people –
less than the population of Greater
London (Figure 1). It is a typical
less economically developed
country (LEDC), with a low GDP,
high population growth rate and
much poverty. Since the end of a
long civil war, in 1991, the
government has concentrated on
trying to rebuild the shattered
economy and improving living
conditions for Salvadorans.
Unfortunately, this process has
been restricted by the actions of
Hurricane Mitch, which caused
large-scale damage in October
1998, and by not one but two
major earthquakes in 2001.
by Barbara Melbourne
Characteristic
United Kingdom
El Salvador
Area
Arable
Permanent crops
Permanent pasture
Forest
Others
244,820 km2
25%
0%
46%
10%
19%
21,040 km 2
27%
37%
9%
5%
22%
Population
Age structure:
0 to 14
15 to 64
Over 65
Birth rate per 1,000
Death rate per 1,000
Net migration rate
59.6 million
6.2 million
19%
65%
16%
11.5
10.4
+ 1.1%
38%
57%
5%
28.7
6.2
– 3.95 per 1,000*
Literacy rate
GDP per capita
Below the poverty line
99%
$ 22,800
17%
72%
$ 4,000
48%
Employment structure:
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
2%
25%
73%
30%
15%
55%
* People are the country’s number one export before coffee and sugar, and are a major source of hard currency.
Figure 1: FactFile: the UK and El Salvador
N
Geological background
The area around El Salvador is one
of the most seismologically active
regions on Earth, as it is at the
meeting point of three of the
world’s tectonic plates: the Cocos,
Caribbean and Nazca plates
(Figure 2). The Pacific Ocean floor
is carried north-eastwards by the
Cocos plate towards the Caribbean
plate forming a subduction zone
below the Pacific Ocean, parallel to
the El Salvador coastline. Here the
denser material of the ocean floor
plate is forced down under the
lighter rocks of the landmass. This
produces volcanoes and
earthquakes (Figure 3).
El Salvador has a long history of
tectonic activity. In the 21st century
El Salvador has experienced at least
13 major earthquakes. The most
severe of these were in 2001. In
just six weeks, between 13 January
and 28 February, there were 5
major earthquakes and 3,000
279
USA
0
500 km
Atlantic Ocean
5
MEXICO
3
Pacific
Ocean
Key
1 =
2 =
3 =
4 =
5 =
San Salvador
EL SALVADOR
Cocos plate
Caribbean plate
Nazca plate
South American plate
North American plate
Direction of plate
movement
SOUTH
AMERICA
1
4
2
Figure 2: Plate tectonics of Central America
Series 14 Spring issue Unit 279 The El Salvador Earthquakes in 2001 © 2003 Nelson Thornes
This page may be photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only.
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aftershocks. The two most severe
earthquakes took place on 13
January and 13 February.
El Salvador
13 January 2001
Pacific Ocean
On 13 January, at 11.33 am local
time, there was an earthquake
measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale.
This was the strongest ever to be
recorded in the region. The
epicentre was off the Pacific coast
at a depth of 60 km, at the junction
of the Caribbean and Cocos
tectonic plates. As it was offshore,
the main effects in the country
were a low-frequency, rolling
motion of moderate amplitude and
long duration.
Caribbean
land
plate
Cocos oceanic plate
Mantle
Subduction zone – melting of rocks,
volcanic activity and earthquakes
13 February 2001
Figure 3: Subduction zone off the Pacific coast of El Salvador
2. Man in the suburbs
I looked through the
window and saw a dark
river of mud and debris
coming towards my
house. I started to pray
to God, and it stopped
one metre from my feet.
1. Wealthy housewife
Pictures and mirrors
bounced off the walls.
Cupboard doors flew
open and plates fell out,
smashing onto the floor.
The fridge moved across
the floor by 15 cm.
I heard a deep rumbling sound
from under the house. The walls
started to shake and collapse.
The children were screaming. The
roof fell in. There was dust all
round and everyone was
coughing. The children clung to
my skirts as we climbed out of the
rubble that had once been our
home.
I was taking a man to the
airport when I heard a
sound like a huge train
rushing past. Afterwards
there were huge cracks in
the road over 2 metres
wide. The man never
caught his plane!
3. Taxi-driver
4. A nurse
As I walked to the hospital
the ground beneath my
feet started to make a
grinding noise. Walking
any further was impossible.
One moment the ground
was lifted by 30 cm, and
the next it had sunk again.
A busy day lay ahead of
me.
5. Poor shanty-town dweller
Figure 4: People who were affected by the January earthquake
Earthquake
13 January
13 February
TOTAL
Deaths
844
Injuries
4,723
People affected
1,329,806
Exactly one month later, on 13
February at 8.22 am, El Salvador
experienced a second major
earthquake, this time measuring
6.6 on the Richter scale. The
epicentre of this earthquake was
below the central mountain chain,
in La Paz. This was a shallower
’quake, at a depth of about 6 km,
occurring as a result of stresses in
the Caribbean plate as it overrides
the Cocos plate.
Was El Salvador prepared for
an earthquake?
El Salvador is a very poor LEDC
and so cannot afford to spend
money preparing for the
earthquakes that seem to affect it
quite regularly. Buildings and roads
are not usually designed to
withstand earthquakes. Emergency
services, such as hospitals and the
fire service, are not well-prepared
to deal with a large-scale disaster.
Even where fire-engines are
available there is no water supply
for them to use or good roads to
reach the areas in need. El
Salvador’s government does not
Houses damaged
169,632
Houses destroyed
108,226
315
3,399
252,622
15,706
41,302
1,159
8,122
1,582,428
185,338
149,528
Figure 5: Statistics for effects of the 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador
Source: National Emergency Committee
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Series 14 Spring issue Unit 279 The El Salvador Earthquakes in 2001 © 2003 Nelson Thornes
This page may be photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only.
Energy, water &
sewerage 4%
Environment
6%
Farming
& fishing
7%
Other 2%
Communications
and infrastructure
30%
Industry,
commerce,
tourism 15% Education 16%
Housing
20%
Figure 6: Relative cost of the
earthquakes
have detailed disaster management
plans. So the country was badly
prepared for the earthquake on 13
January (Figure 4). Within a few
hours the country’s President
declared a National Emergency and
appealed for international aid. All
the major relief organisations, such
as the Red Cross and the Pan
American Health Organisation
(PAHO), answered the country’s
call for help.
What were the main effects of
the earthquakes?
It is difficult to separate the effects
of the two earthquakes, as the
country was just recovering from
the first when the second one
occurred.
The combined effects (Figure 5)
were:
• Deaths and injuries: over 1,000
people were killed and over 8,000
were injured. The death toll in
January would probably have been
higher but for the gentle start to the
earthquake, which allowed people to
evacuate their homes.
• Landslides: over 500 of these
followed the January ’quake, triggered
by the prolonged rolling motion. The
volcanic soils here are unstable when
wet, and it was just after the rainy
season (see Figure 8) – perfect
conditions for landslides. In one
suburban area, over 250 homes were
covered by a river of mud and debris,
burying many of their occupants.
People used cranes, shovels and even
their bare hands to try to rescue them.
Spain sent teams with specially trained
dogs to help in the rescue operation.
Landslides also blocked major roads,
cutting off areas and slowing down
further rescue operations. One
landslide on the Pan-American
Highway to Guatemala, for example,
involved over 1 million tonnes of
material.
• Houses: about one-fifth of all the
country’s houses were destroyed or
damaged, making nearly 25% of the
population homeless. Many of the
poorer houses were made from
adobe, a mixture of mud and straw,
which breaks down into a fine dust.
Many occupants died from
suffocation. Others suffered from
chest complaints for weeks
afterwards.
• Buildings: over 1,000 public
buildings, such as churches and
schools, were destroyed. Some
buildings, weakened by the January
’quake, were finally destroyed by the
one in February. Nineteen hospitals –
two-thirds of the country’s total –
were so damaged they could not be
used. The injured had to be treated in
car parks, streets and tents.
• Public services: the electricity supply,
already poor and inadequate, was
severely disrupted. After the February
’quake all the traffic lights in San
Salvador broke down, adding to the
chaos and hindering rescue
operations. The water supply and
telephone system were also disrupted.
• Communications: the control tower
and runways at the airport were
severely damaged, closing it down
and delaying incoming relief aid from
abroad. Many roads and bridges were
also damaged by landslides.
• The financial cost: this has been
estimated at one-sixth of the total
annual GDP, a vast amount for such a
poor country (Figure 6).
What has happened in El
Salvador since the
earthquakes?
Relief organisations carried out
much short-term aid, sending in
food, medical supplies and
qualified personnel, setting up
provisional shelter in relief camps,
providing a clean water supply and
basic sanitation facilities. By the
end of February, aid to the value of
nearly $12 million had been
received from foreign
governments, non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and
international charities.
Series 14 Spring issue Unit 279 The El Salvador Earthquakes in 2001 © 2003 Nelson Thornes
This page may be photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only.
However, long-term relief is also
needed. The Red Cross has started
to replace the destroyed homes
with earthquake-resistant ones at a
cost of $3,000 each. The Japanese
government has financed 10,000
units of prefabricated housing. But
it is vital to plan for the future. The
government needs to draw up
plans to help the country to cope in
future emergencies and to establish
and enforce regulations to ensure
that all future building is
earthquake-proof.
El Salvador continued to suffer
throughout 2001. After the ’quakes
came a prolonged drought, wiping
out 80% of the corn and bean
crops in the areas affected. Next,
due to an over-production of coffee
in Asia, coffee prices (coffee is one
of the country’s most important
exports) plummeted – another loss,
this time of $150 million. A state of
emergency was declared in August
2001 and the relief agencies
returned to help out yet again.
One of the country’s biggest and
most successful exports is its
people. Two million Salvadorans
live outside the country and send
home around $2 million each year
to their families. This is vital to a
country whose total exports are
only $3 million. However, it is
often the young and economically
active who leave – the very people
the country needs to help it to
grow economically.
Conclusion
The 2001 earthquakes were just
two events in a long line of
disasters in El Salvador. They
added to the extreme poverty,
slowed down economic progress
(the country had zero economic
growth in 2001), accelerated
rural–urban migration, increased
health problems, caused
environmental deterioration, and
so on. It is very difficult to envisage
how countries such as El Salvador
can continue to survive without
massive organisational changes
within the country.
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Activities
N
1 Answer these questions using the
facts in Figure 1.
(a) What are two main differences
between the age structures of the
two countries? Draw a divided
rectangle for each country to show
the data given.
(b) What are the natural growth
rates of the population in (i) the
UK and (ii) El Salvador?
(c) List three characteristics from
the table, other than population,
which you could use to prove that
El Salvador was an LEDC and that
the UK was an MEDC.
2 On a copy of Figure 7, label the
following features:
• Pacific Ocean • Guatemala
• British Honduras • San Salvador
• San Miguel • Santa Ana • Pan
American Highway.
3 Study the data in Figure 8.
(a) Which is the hottest month in
(i) San Salvador, (ii) London?
(b) What is the range of
temperature in (i) San Salvador, (ii)
London?
(c) What is the total rainfall in each
of the capital cities?
(d) Which city has most rainfall?
4 Choose an MEDC that
experiences frequent earthquakes.
Describe some of the methods that
the country uses to prepare itself
for earthquakes and to try to
reduce deaths, injuries and damage
when an earthquake does take
place.
5 Write a brief definition of each
of the following terms:
(a) tectonic plate
0
50 km
Figure 7: Outline map of El Salvador
8 List four different charity
organisations, other than those
mentioned in this unit, which help
out in disaster situations. Carry out
a short research project on one of
them, describing the kind of work
that they do and some of the areas
where they work.
(b) subduction zone
(c) epicentre
(d) Richter scale.
Extension activities
6 Design a poster or pamphlet that
could be distributed to rural areas
of countries such as El Salvador,
which suffer from frequent
earthquakes. Your poster should try
to point out some simple and easy
ways of minimising damage from
earthquakes. Remember that there
may be a low level of education
and literacy in such areas, so try to
use illustrations and diagrams and
simple vocabulary.
9 One of the major after-effects of
disasters such as earthquakes in
LEDCs is epidemics of diseases
such as cholera and typhoid. Why
is this? Research one such disease.
10 Coffee is grown in El Salvador
as a cash crop. What is meant by
this term? Find out about coffeegrowing in San Salvador – the
growing requirements, the
methods that are used, the
companies that are involved, its
importance to the country’s
economy, amounts produced,
major importers, etc.
7 Imagine that your class has been
asked to draw up a plan for
disaster management in one of the
rural areas of El Salvador. You have
a very limited amount of money.
Discuss some of the ideas and
methods that you could use to
reduce the impact of future
earthquakes.
San Salvador
Jan
Feb
°C 28
29
Mm 10
0
Mar
30
10
April
31
31
May
29
135
June
28
315
July
28
282
Aug
28
335
Sep
27
328
Oct
28
216
Nov
28
36
Dec
28
5
Monthly average
28.5
142
London
Jan
°C 7
Mm 61
Mar
11
51
April
12
43
May
17
46
June
20
46
July
21
46
Aug
22
43
Sep
13
43
Oct
14
74
Nov
11
46
Dec
8
58
Monthly average
14
49
Feb
7
36
Figure 8: Climate data for San Salvador and London
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Series 14 Spring issue Unit 279 The El Salvador Earthquakes in 2001 © 2003 Nelson Thornes
This page may be photocopied for use within the purchasing institution only.