4:15 PM - 4:30 PM
[HRE13-04] Debris flow disaster prevention for community Using the 3D Development Platform "Unity"
Keywords:Unity, Cognitive bias, disaster prevention, natural disaster
1. Introduction
With the increase in natural disasters due to climate change, recurrent disasters and issues related to cognitive bias have become urgent problems. Cognitive bias is a psychological phenomenon where individuals collect information that supports their beliefs and ignore contradictory information. Particularly relevant to disasters is the "normalcy bias," where individuals, when faced with warnings, minimize or dismiss those warnings as part of normal life. This often includes the belief that events outside one's own or acquaintances' experiences are unlikely to occur. It is crucial in disaster prevention and mitigation plans to consider these biases and to improve risk literacy. In the 2021 debris flow disaster in Chino City, although there was extensive damage to homes, there were no fatalities, which is notably rare. Interviews revealed that residents evacuated more than 30 minutes before official warnings were issued, prompted by traditional local wisdom to evacuate at certain signs. Therefore, in regions where local traditions are passed down, decisions to evacuate can transcend cognitive bias. In this research, we utilized the rapidly developing technology found in games, particularly in open-world environments, to create a realistic landslide simulation that contributes to community disaster prevention.
2. Methodology
In game development, free development platforms like Unity are often used. Unity is a game engine developed by Unity Technologies that supports physics simulations and can display self-created 3D models. Content developed on Unity can generally be published freely on home consoles, mobile devices, and the web. For this study, we constructed a terrain model using 0.5m-DEM data from the Ankokuji area adjacent to the Takabe district in Chino City.
3. Model Construction Results
Figure 1 shows a model constructed using Unity. The terrain representation uses aerial photographs provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s PLATEAU and the CI map developed by Central Development Co., Ltd. This combination offers realistic terrain representation and enables professional terrain interpretation. The landslide depiction was achieved using Unity's physics simulation, inspired by the 2021 debris flow incident in Takabe, Chino City. Although the model represented soil, boulders, water, and fallen trees, it focused on exaggerating the visual impact rather than achieving the complex fluid dynamics seen in models like Morpho2DH used in hydraulic engineering simulations.
4. Conclusion
While the model constructed using Unity successfully conveyed the potential impact on the region based on real terrains and disaster cases, discrepancies from actual disasters highlight areas for future study. However, capturing trends such as changes in direction due to slight terrain differences in real geography demonstrates the potential for realistic representations.
With the increase in natural disasters due to climate change, recurrent disasters and issues related to cognitive bias have become urgent problems. Cognitive bias is a psychological phenomenon where individuals collect information that supports their beliefs and ignore contradictory information. Particularly relevant to disasters is the "normalcy bias," where individuals, when faced with warnings, minimize or dismiss those warnings as part of normal life. This often includes the belief that events outside one's own or acquaintances' experiences are unlikely to occur. It is crucial in disaster prevention and mitigation plans to consider these biases and to improve risk literacy. In the 2021 debris flow disaster in Chino City, although there was extensive damage to homes, there were no fatalities, which is notably rare. Interviews revealed that residents evacuated more than 30 minutes before official warnings were issued, prompted by traditional local wisdom to evacuate at certain signs. Therefore, in regions where local traditions are passed down, decisions to evacuate can transcend cognitive bias. In this research, we utilized the rapidly developing technology found in games, particularly in open-world environments, to create a realistic landslide simulation that contributes to community disaster prevention.
2. Methodology
In game development, free development platforms like Unity are often used. Unity is a game engine developed by Unity Technologies that supports physics simulations and can display self-created 3D models. Content developed on Unity can generally be published freely on home consoles, mobile devices, and the web. For this study, we constructed a terrain model using 0.5m-DEM data from the Ankokuji area adjacent to the Takabe district in Chino City.
3. Model Construction Results
Figure 1 shows a model constructed using Unity. The terrain representation uses aerial photographs provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s PLATEAU and the CI map developed by Central Development Co., Ltd. This combination offers realistic terrain representation and enables professional terrain interpretation. The landslide depiction was achieved using Unity's physics simulation, inspired by the 2021 debris flow incident in Takabe, Chino City. Although the model represented soil, boulders, water, and fallen trees, it focused on exaggerating the visual impact rather than achieving the complex fluid dynamics seen in models like Morpho2DH used in hydraulic engineering simulations.
4. Conclusion
While the model constructed using Unity successfully conveyed the potential impact on the region based on real terrains and disaster cases, discrepancies from actual disasters highlight areas for future study. However, capturing trends such as changes in direction due to slight terrain differences in real geography demonstrates the potential for realistic representations.