HyDi: Hydrometeorological Disaster Preparedness Simulator

Abstract

The Philippines recently implemented the Kinder-to-12 (K-12) education system that now offers a Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction (DRRR) course. The study considers the Learning gaps present in the delivery of content for the DRRR course, specifically the Hydrometeorological disasters topic, offered in the De La Salle University - Integrated School. One of the gaps identified was that students were unable to experience the disasters first-hand in the current Learning environment. This prevents them from testing the various actions and making potentially critical decisions when an actual disaster occurs. Another gap identified was that students were unable to categorize what things and/or places are safe or potentially dangerous in their environment when a disaster happens since there are different factors that may come into play during these times. The study proposes that a simulated Learning environment through Virtual Reality, where students are immersed in different Hydrometeorological disaster scenarios, allowing them to perform the appropriate safety measures as a solution to the identified gaps. The Virtual Reality simulator was developed with Unity for Android, which deployed various Hydrometeorological scenarios, designed to parallel the Philippine context.