San Salvador’s expanding skyline reflects the country’s vertical growth and renews questions about earthquake preparedness. AI-generated image created for Our Life in El Salvador.
The skyline of San Salvador is changing quickly. Apartment towers, office buildings, and mixed-use developments now rise above neighborhoods where low buildings once dominated the view.
For many Salvadorans, that growth is a sign of investment and modernization. It also raises an unavoidable question in a country with a long history of destructive earthquakes: Is it safe to live so high above the ground?
That question feels especially timely. On August 12, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Usulután, 55 kilometers south of Playa El Espino, according to El Salvador’s environmental observatory. It was not a destructive earthquake, but it was another reminder that seismic activity is part of life here.
A recent report by Diario El Mundo addressed the concern through an interview with Miguel Ángel Pérez, an architect and professor at the University of El Salvador. His explanation may surprise people who assume that a taller building is automatically a more dangerous building.
Height Alone Does Not Determine Safety
According to Pérez, the safety of a building during an earthquake depends on several factors working together: its structural design, the materials used, compliance with construction standards, and the characteristics of the soil beneath it.
In other words, the number of floors does not tell us whether a building is safe.
A properly designed high-rise may receive far more engineering attention than a small house built informally. Large projects normally require detailed soil studies, specialized structural calculations, and carefully controlled construction systems.
By contrast, a one- or two-story home can be highly vulnerable if it was built without technical supervision, with weak materials or through additions that were never evaluated by an engineer.
This is an important distinction in El Salvador, where many families live in horizontal communities and where informal construction remains common. The most visible buildings are not always the most vulnerable ones.
Different Earthquakes Affect Buildings Differently
Buildings do not all react to seismic waves in the same way. Pérez explained that rapid, short-period shaking can be especially damaging to low-rise structures. Slower, long-period motion can have a greater effect on tall buildings because it may match the natural rhythm at which those buildings sway.
That does not mean towers are unsafe. It means engineers must design each structure for the kind of movement it may experience.
A modern high-rise is expected to move during an earthquake. Some swaying can be alarming to the people inside, but movement does not necessarily indicate structural failure.
The goal of earthquake-resistant design is not to make a building completely motionless or guarantee that it will suffer no damage. The first priority is to prevent collapse and protect human life.
Flexibility Can Be a Strength
The materials used in construction also matter. Pérez said that El Salvador gradually moved from traditional adobe and wood toward reinforced concrete, particularly after the destructive earthquakes of the last century.
More recently, structural steel has become an important option for high-rise construction.
Steel can bend and absorb energy without breaking as suddenly as a brittle material. Pérez compared this principle to a flexible cane bending in the wind while a rigid tree may snap. A well-designed building can move with seismic forces and dissipate part of their energy.
However, no material is safe by itself. Steel, reinforced concrete and other systems depend on proper design, good workmanship, quality control and continued maintenance. A sophisticated plan on paper offers little protection if shortcuts are taken during construction.
The Ground Beneath the Building Matters
Soil conditions can dramatically change the way an earthquake is felt. Pérez pointed to the volcanic soils around San Salvador, often called “white earth,” and described many of these layers as relatively consolidated. They may offer better support and energy dissipation than the soft clay found beneath cities such as Mexico City.
That may provide an advantage in some locations, but it should not be treated as a blanket guarantee for the entire metropolitan area.
Conditions can vary from one property to another. Slopes, fills, underground water, and unstable ground can all change the risk. This is why a site-specific geotechnical study is essential before a large building is designed.
El Salvador also faces more than one source of earthquakes. Powerful offshore events can result from the subduction of tectonic plates, while shallow earthquakes on local faults can cause intense shaking close to populated areas.
The country’s history—including the San Salvador earthquake of 1986 and the two devastating earthquakes of 2001—shows why preparation cannot be optional.
A Safe Tower Still Needs a Functioning City
Perhaps the most important point in the El Mundo report goes beyond the strength of an individual building.
When hundreds of families and workers are concentrated in one tower, the surrounding city must support them. Water systems, sewage and storm drainage, electricity, roads, communications and emergency access all face greater pressure as neighborhoods become denser.
A building could remain structurally sound after a major earthquake yet still become temporarily uninhabitable if elevators stop, water service fails, access roads are blocked, or fires cannot be reached quickly.
Vertical growth therefore requires more than private investment in towers. It requires coordinated urban planning and resilient public infrastructure.
The same is true of emergency response. Residents need clearly marked stairs and evacuation routes, functioning alarms, assembly points and management teams that conduct regular drills.
Emergency plans must also consider older adults, people with disabilities, children and anyone who may need help using stairs after elevators are shut down.
Questions Residents and Buyers Should Ask
People considering an apartment in a high-rise should not be afraid to request basic safety information:
- Was a geotechnical study completed for the site?
- Who designed and reviewed the structural system?
- Were all construction and occupancy permits approved?
- Does the building have a current emergency plan and hold regular drills?
- Are stairs, emergency exits and assembly areas clearly identified and kept unobstructed?
- Are nonstructural hazards, such as glass, ceiling panels, water tanks and heavy equipment, properly secured?
- How will residents receive water, emergency lighting and communication if utilities fail?
- Has the building been modified since construction, and were those changes professionally evaluated?
Residents should also keep an emergency kit, secure heavy objects inside their homes and know where to shelter during the shaking.
El Salvador’s Civil Protection authority advises people not to run while the ground is moving, to stay away from windows and unstable objects, and not to use elevators during an evacuation.
So, Is El Salvador Ready?
There is no simple yes-or-no answer.
El Salvador has experienced engineers, better construction knowledge, and modern materials capable of making tall buildings far safer than many people imagine. A new tower designed for local soil and seismic conditions may perform better than an older or informally built low-rise structure.
But readiness cannot be measured by engineering expertise alone. It also depends on strict enforcement of construction standards, honest inspections, proper maintenance, public transparency, reliable infrastructure, and a population that knows what to do when the ground begins to move.
The growth of San Salvador’s skyline should not be viewed only with fear, nor should it be accepted without questions.
Vertical development can be part of the country’s future, but every new floor brings a greater responsibility to build carefully, plan beyond the property line, and prepare for the earthquake that no one can predict.
Earthquakes are inevitable in El Salvador. Disaster on the same scale is not. The difference will depend on what is done before the shaking begins.
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