TAISHIN PROJECT IN EL SALVADOREnhancement of the construction technology and dissemination system of the earthquake-resistant housing.

El Salvador is a prone earthquake country. The most recent seismic disaster occurred on 2001, when two earthquakes (January 13th and February 13th) caused the collapse of many houses. In order to reduce the seismic risk of the country promoting earthquake-resistant constructive technologies for housing, the government of El Salvador requested technical cooperation to the government of Japan. In 2003, TAISHIN project started through the collaboration of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with the technical collaboration of Building Research Institute (BRI) and National Center for Disaster Prevention of Mexico (CENAPRED). In El Salvador, the project is under the coordination of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (VMVDU) with the participation of the Salvadorean Foundation for Development and Minimum Housing (FUNDASAL), Universidad de El Salvador (UES) and Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeón Cañas (UCA). Two main facilities have been constructed in El Salvador: one laboratory to conduct tests on walls (in plane behavior of walls) and one tilting table to evaluate the out of plane behavior of houses (especially for earthen constructions or brittle materials).

The main objective of this project is to develop and disseminate enhanced materials and construction methods to strengthen the seismo-resistant capabilities of low-cost popular housing in El Salvador. The TAISHIN project has been divided in 2 phases. In the first phase (2003-2008) TAISHIN project in El Salvador was aimed to evaluate and improve the seismic behavior of actual dwelling constructions in El Salvador, improving specifically the constructive techniques. Four systems were studied; prefabricated system (Bloque panel), earthen construction (adobe), confined masonry (soil cement solid bricks) and reinforced grouted masonry. In the second phase (2009-2012) the emphasis is the dissemination of technical standards for the construction of housing in El Salvador, and the generation of proposals on the basis of the results of research carried out in both phases.

Results are expected to contribute improving the current guideline provisions. The technical information will be disseminated trough the guideline and manuals of construction for workers.