GALENA used in El Salvador to save lives.
Shortly after the tragic earthquake of January 13, 2001 in the Central American country of El Salvador that killed approximately 1,000 people and left many more homeless, Clover Technology was approached for assistance by a non-profit seismic engineering research foundation based in El Salvador.
The assistance sought was in relation to studies they wished to undertake on areas affected by the landslides that caused so much of the loss of life and destruction - the studies would involve extensive slope stability analyses (that would include seismic forces) to correctly model the local conditions during earthquake and storm events.
Clover Technology agreed to donate a copy of GALENA for their studies, and GALENA has been used to evaluate the largest of the landslides, the ‘big-one’ that took approximately 700 lives, and a report has been prepared and presented to the Government of El Salvador, at no cost to that Government.
Other smaller, but still deadly, landslides have been analysed and reports presented, with still further studies and reports expected to be undertaken for presentation.
One of the reasons the research foundation approached Clover Technology was that they had heard of GALENA and were hoping they could have access to a slope stability analysis package that was simple to understand, and easy to learn and use - in their words “...your program looks to us very friendly and we do not have the time to learn how to use "complicated" software.”
Clover Technology has since donated an upgrade to the foundation and hopes that use of GALENA in El Salvador will assist in effectively determining areas of risk so that such events do not exact their tragic human toll in the future.
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