During its turbulent history, El Salvador has been witness to conquests, shattering civil war and frequent, devastating natural disasters. The capital, San Salvador, is the most frequently earthquake-damaged city in Latin America. After a series of earthquakes in 2001 left one seventh of the country’s population homeless, students from Imperial College London Civil Engineering Department were motivated to volunteer their expertise and help with the reconstruction of homes and public buildings. They spent the summer working in one of the poorest communities of El Salvador during the summer of 2002, their main aim being to reconstruct a seismically-resistant model adobe pre-school day centre. The continuing widespread poverty and inadequate infrastructure in El Salvador drove the students to repeat the project the following year. The volunteering projects have now developed into an annual student participation scheme. Over the past ten years, students from Imperial College have travelled to El Salvador to work within small rural communities for 6 weeks on various development projects. These projects have included a concrete block model house, pit latrines, drainage pits, seismically resistant housing and social welfare projects across El Salvador. The relationship with the local NGO REDES has been nurtured which facilitates the work done each year by the different teams and increases the sustainability of the project. This year the team of 11 Undergraduates, 1 Postgraduate, a Chemist and an Irishman will be constructing 3 prototype houses from a new design developed by alumni from the project. They would like to share with you the past success of the Project’s work, their aims in construction over the summer and their vision for the future as they celebrate 10 years of the El Salvador Project.
Louise Foulkes & Pedro Alonso Caprile
Team Leaders | El Salvador Project 2012 Imperial College London