NEW EDUCATION TOOL FOR TSUNAMI DISASTER PREVENTION BASED ON TUSNAMI NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND IMAGE ANALYSIS

Abstract

 Education for tsunami disaster prevention plays one of the most important role to minimize loss of human lives due to huge tsunamis. In this study, a new education game for the tsunami disaster prevention has been developed by combining tsunami numerical simulation technique and image analysis technique. A player puts models of disaster prevention measures on a simple model town, and the setup of the models is automatically extracted by a recorded image from a digital camera mounted above the game field. Numerical condition of tsunami run-up simulation is adjusted by the extracted setup of the models of the measures. The numerical simulation is conducted soon after the recording and the extraction of the model setup, and the result is visualized on a screen by projection from a PC projector. Players of this game are allowed to freely use multiple models of dikes, coastal forests and evacuation roads in order to protect evacuees and also an evacuation building. In addition, disaster warning system and hazard maps, which make the evacuees to start earlier, are prepared as item cards to be put on the item box as the players’ choices. A user test was conducted in an event named as “Science Day 2019”. The game worked properly for totally 35 players and allowed the players to get various solutions with combining all possible measures.