Stop Disasters!
© 2007 International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
You have $50,000 and 20 minutes to work before a tsunami will strike. How many lives can you save? This free, web-based learning disaster prevention simulation is published by the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction group, a division of the United Nations. The goal is to educate children and adults on how to minimize the threats of natural disasters, before they happen, in order to save lives and reduce damage. According to the site, natural hazards, such as floods, earthquakes and volcanoes, do not need to become disasters. For example, if volcanoes erupt in a location where nobody lives, the volcano eruption is just a natural hazard, but not a disaster. But, if people living around the volcanoes are affected, it can become a disaster. In the tsunami scenario, you learn that by planting trees and building concrete structures on higher ground, you can help people survive the initial disaster of the raising water. But you also learn that you need to prepare for what happens after the tsunami hits (eg., when disease happens due to a lack of housing, food and medicine). Currently, scenarios exist for floods, wildfires and earthquakes. High scores are stored on the website. Have a look at http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/. Developed by Playerthree for the UN.
Internet Site
Teaches: social studies, natural disasters, logical thinking, economics
CTR Rating: 88%