Using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality for Enhancing School Education

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies enable people who have never been affected by a disaster to experience it as if it were real and to take concrete countermeasures. Using smartphones, tablets, and inexpensive head-mounted displays makes it possible at a relatively low cost. Virtual reality is immersive and particularly useful for experiencing earthquakes. However, creating disaster situations with computer graphics is costly and challenging to produce in a large variety. Augmented reality is cost-effective because it synthesises and displays the disaster situation at the location of the experience, including floods and fires. Disaster risk reduction education initiatives using VR and AR have been gaining momentum since around 2014; AR has also been used in disaster drills for all children in primary schools, showing its usefulness. If the issues of introduction and maintenance costs can be resolved, they are expected to become an indispensable part of disaster education in the future.