Abstract
Evacuation drills have been developed as part of many risk management programs. However, very few studies have paid attention to the process of evacuation drills. This study employs action research to examine a tsunami risk management strategy called the single-person drill, and applies new technologies in presenting related outcomes presented as multiscreen movies. The drill targets vulnerable people (i.e., older adults), during which a single evacuee moves to a shelter with the aid of a Global Positioning System (GPS) device. Evacuation routes, destination, and duration were used as parameters in an agent-based evacuation simulation shown on movies. The drill has been conducted 58 times in a coastal community (Okitsu, Kochi Prefecture), and 59 multiscreen movies were produced. An analysis of the effectiveness of the drill and related movies was done by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. Results showed that, with a total of 163 respondents of a semistructured interview, 70.0% of residents were familiar with the drill, and 22.0% wanted to try it. The drill helped elderly people to improve self-efficacy in tsunami risk management, and generated two-way risk communication between experts and participants. This paper contributes new insights into understanding the importance of technology in tsunami risk management.
Highlights
The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development warned that the escalation of severe disaster events triggered by natural hazards and related environmental disasters are increasingly posing a substantive threat to sustainable development [1]
Far, few studies have focused on the possibility of integrating information technologies in the process of tsunami evacuation drills. This study addresses these gaps by designing new tsunami evacuation drill procedures and developing new technological tools to help people to understand risk information
This paper aims to break down rigid boundaries by developing two-way risk communication between experts/officials and the public
Summary
The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development warned that the escalation of severe disaster events triggered by natural hazards and related environmental disasters are increasingly posing a substantive threat to sustainable development [1]. In Japan in particular, in order to cope with frequent natural disasters, various evacuation drills have been adopted and conducted as part of risk management programs [5]. The participation rate in an evacuation drill conducted in Ishinomaki in 2014 was only 7.3%, despite the fact that this city experienced 3968 fatalities due to drowning in the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami [8]. These low participation rates indicate that, on one hand, increased efforts should be made to enhance drill participation, in areas regarded as extremely hazardous. The low participation rates indicate that the traditional tsunami evacuation scenarios are losing their public motivation value, and require urgent transformation
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