Paper No. 39
Presentation Time: 8:00 AM-6:00 PM
Using Online Role Playing to Demonstrate Impracticability of Reponses to An Earthquake Scenario
The course Earthquakes and Society is an undergraduate course for non-majors which provides and overview of seismicity and seismic hazards. To further reinforce the human-element an online simulation was developed which has a fictional city, complete with maps, photographs of neighborhoods, demographics and an array of specific geologic substrates and buildings with different seismic capabilities. The students design a safety plan for their city, and city officials are appointed. An intensity VIII earthquake occurs The students then interact online to the damage and life threatening conditions in their city. The responses of the students and their officials to the earthquake are often surprising and unpredictable. This experience then gives them food for thought as they evaluate their city's survival and their officials.