El Salvador - GFDRR
El Salvador - GFDRR
El Salvador - GFDRR
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II. POPULATION AND AFFECTED AREAS | 27<br />
The magnitude of the disaster at national level is limited (1.44% of GDP), 12 and the comparison<br />
of the value of destroyed assets is equivalent to 3.4% of the annual rate of gross formation of fixed<br />
capital. However, when geographically more disaggregated values are examined, one can better visualize<br />
the tragedy caused by this event. It should be noted that the disaster’s impacts were concentrated in 5 of<br />
the country’s 14 departments, and these accounted for nearly 85% of damages and losses, as indicated<br />
below:<br />
Department<br />
TABLE 8. DAMAGES AND LOSSES BY DEPARTMENT<br />
Damages and losses<br />
(in millions of US$)<br />
Percentage of total<br />
La Paz 56.6 25.3<br />
San <strong>Salvador</strong> 54.6 24.4<br />
San Vicente 49.4 22.1<br />
La Libertad 27.2 12.2<br />
Cuscatlán 18.9 8.4<br />
Source: Estimates by assessment mission.<br />
Image 8 illustrates this spatial distribution of the disaster’s total effects.<br />
By considering the figures dealing with the effects of the disaster, by department, one can obtain<br />
more details on how the country’s inhabitants have been affected. Table 9 shows, for the five most affected<br />
departments, the figures corresponding to the Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by UNDP for<br />
the current year, 13 together with the value of damages and losses per inhabitant and the value of total<br />
effects in comparison with the GDP per inhabitant. From this, it can be inferred that there is an inverse<br />
relationship between the greater value of damages and losses per person, and the relationship between<br />
these effects and the GDP with regard to the current year’s HDI. This reinforces the idea that persons with<br />
lower degrees of relative development in the country are those who have received the strongest impact<br />
caused by the disaster, and government efforts to reduce the nation’s poverty and unemployment must be<br />
increased and focused on the departments that were most affected (see Images 9 and 10).<br />
12<br />
Note that the purpose of this comparison is to illustrate the gross magnitude of the disaster; it does not represent the<br />
reduction to which the GDP may be subjected as a result of the losses. This issue will be addressed in the next chapter.<br />
13<br />
See Status of human development in the municipalities of <strong>El</strong> <strong>Salvador</strong>, 2009, United Nations Development Programme<br />
(UNDP), Dr. Guillermo Manuel Ungo Foundation (FUNDAUNGO), and Under-Secretariat of Territorial Development and<br />
Decentralization, San <strong>Salvador</strong>, 2009.