The ‘Search & Rescue’ Game1097

The ‘Search & Rescue’ Game
Toshiko KIKKAWA1, Tsuyoshi AJIRO2, Haruo HAYASHI3, Katsuya YAMORI3,Kei HORIE4, Mitsuhiro HIGASHIDA5, Reo KIMURA6, Satoru SADOHARA7Background
Japan is vulnerable to natural disasters, such as annual floods, landslides, earthquakes, and so on. One such disaster, the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake, occurred at 0546 h on January 17, 1995. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.2 andits epicenter was right beneath Kobe, one of the biggest cities in western Japan,with a population of 1.5 million. The earthquake shocked Kobe severely, with aJMA Intensity of 7, the maximum value on the Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA) seismic intensity scale.
The damage was widespread in terms of lives, property, and infrastructure.
More than 6,400 people were killed and 15,000 injured. At least 200,000 buildings
were damaged or destroyed; 400,000 people were left homeless and 240,000 people sought public shelter. Fires consumed about 450 hectares of Kobe, and there
was widespread damage to road, water, gas, and sewer systems. The Port of Kobe
was heavily damaged and took months to repair. Eight-five percent of the schools
were damaged, and the city hall, many hospitals, and other major public facilities
sustained heavy damage. Small and medium-sized businesses were hit hard. The
total economic loss is estimated at US$150 billion, with more than US$100 billion
in property damage.
Unfortunately, it will not be the last earthquake disaster to strike Japan. Japanese seismologists agree that based on historical data, another catastrophic earthquake will occur within the next twenty to thirty years, and may hit the Kansai,Tokai, and Tokyo areas simultaneously in a worst case scenario. Although it istrue that the Japanese have learned many lessons from the tragedy of the Great
Hanshin Awaji earthquake, two crucial problems that are closely related remain
unsolved.

1 Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University
2 Game Designer
3 Disaster Prevention Research Center, Kyoto University
4 Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Research Center, National Research Institute for Earth

Science and Disaster Prevention
5 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation
6 Disaster Management Office, Nagoya University
7Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University1097

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Toshiko KIKKAWA , Tsuyoshi AJIRO , Haruo HAYASHI3, Katsuya
YAMORI , Kei HORIE , Mitsuhiro HIGASHIDA , Reo KIMURA , Satoru SADOHARA7First, human, technical, and financial resources will be too scarce comparedwith the estimated damage if the next big earthquake occurs anywhere near an urbanized area because of the high population concentration, as damage increases
with population. Although the scarcity of resources for disaster response is widely
recognized, few steps have been taken to improve this situation. One reason for
this, at least from the perspective of administrative officials, is that it is unrealistic
to allocate resources to prepare fully for major earthquakes, which occur muchless frequently than other disasters, such as typhoons, landslides, and floods. Officials judge that it is more cost effective to prepare for more common events,
which usually cause less damage. Consequently, there has been little progress inallocating resources to prepare for a major disaster from the perspective of government officials in general, and local government in particular.
Second, given this evident scarcity of resources, self-help and mutual aid
among communities will be extremely important for any victims, both in disasterprone areas in particular and elsewhere in Japan. Nevertheless, the populace may
not be aware of the inadequate disaster response capability. This lack of awarenessmight result from a lack of proper information, as well as a general tendency toignore risks. In reality, despite the immense, tragic damage caused by the Hanshin
Awaji Earthquake Disaster, interest in earthquake disaster reduction among theJapanese in general seems to have faded quickly in recent years. This indifference
among the populace could result in a serious problem, as it may preclude people
from preparing for future earthquakes.
This tendency of people to subjectively reduce or ignore risks, in particular,
personal risks, is known as optimistic bias (Weinstein, 1980). Real-world examples include the reluctance of inhabitants to evaluate disasters and patients’ disobedience with respect to life-style related diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension. Consequently, efforts to improve preparedness for disasters such as
earthquakes may fail because of this tendency.
Many training measures have attempted to overcome these two difficulties.
Their effectiveness is still questionable, as indicated by the relatively low level ofparticipation in disaster-prevention training, which is practiced commonly and periodically in Japan. We therefore need to develop other ways of training that are
more effective than current practices.
In summary, new ways of preparing for low-frequency, high-impact disasters,emphasizing education and training both for lay persons and administrative officers, are necessary. We explore this in the following section.

Gaming Simulation as a tool for disaster mitigation
We propose gaming simulation as a promising tool to prepare both people andgovernment officials for disasters. We envision the following three advantages ofgaming simulation as a tool for disaster mitigation.
First, although our gaming simulation is not just a ‘game’ for fun in the strict
meaning of the word, participants would associate the word ‘game’ with fun, in-1098

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creasing the likelihood that the game would stimulate players to learn and induce
active participation in education concerning disaster impact mitigation. Education
concerning disaster impact mitigation is usually too scientific for laypersons, whofind it too boring; however, a gaming simulation can overcome this difficulty.
Second, players would spontaneously be made aware of their lack of knowledge
or understanding of disaster management through discussion during the game anda debriefing period after the game. This eye-opening experience should result inenduring, practical knowledge of the disaster reduction process. If there is a very
long period between the occurrence of natural disasters, typical education regarding disaster impact mitigation may have little reality for those who lack direct experience confronting such disasters. Gaming simulation can provide a series ofsimulated experiences, thereby overcoming, or at least reducing, this difficulty.
Third, from the perspective of government officials, since gaming usually contains a strategic element, it offers a very suitable way for government officials toimprove their decision-making capabilities before and during any crisis.

The ‘Search & Rescue’ game as a tool for disaster impact
mitigation by experts
Figure 1 shows our schematic understanding of gaming simulation for disastermitigation at present. The bar on the left shows that, as one approaches the top of
the hierarchy in an organization or community, as in the case of the commander inthe second column from the left, decision making takes on the nature of strategy.
The word ‘strategy‘ means decision-making regarding the irrevocable allocationof precious resources to achieve the intended goal.
In the event of a disaster, it is important to allocate resources appropriately,such as disaster response personnel in various roles, i.e., the incident commander,and operations, planning, logistics, and administration/finance personnel. For therescue department, the triage of victims is particularly important. The ‘Search &Rescue’ game described below emphasizes and realizes the need for strategic responses.
Descending the hierarchy to the staff level, decision making shifts to the natureof tactics. We use the word ‘tactics’ for decisions as to how an intended goal canbe achieved with the resources allocated. In crisis, staff are often expected to respond and report, rather than behave independently, in a crisis. This can lead to efficient management of the crisis. Therefore, exercise drills can be the best way tolearn how to manage a crisis situation. Typical examples are fire drills and evacuation drills.
There is an intermediate level of officers between the commanders and the staff.
Decision making at this level involves a mixture of strategy and tactics. The mostappropriate way for officers at this level to learn how to manage possible situations may be to study relevant manuals, and repeated review of crisis management
manuals is a first step. Once they have a thorough knowledge of such manuals, the1099

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Toshiko KIKKAWA , Tsuyoshi AJIRO , Haruo HAYASHI3, Katsuya
YAMORI , Kei HORIE , Mitsuhiro HIGASHIDA , Reo KIMURA , Satoru SADOHARA7

officers will then be more able to handle crisis situations. We will introduce anexample of such learning later.

The ‘Search & Rescue’ game as a tool for disaster impact
mitigation by citizens
Figure 1 also depicts the importance of gaming simulation for citizens. As mentioned earlier, gaming simulation can stimulate active participation by citizens,i.e., laypersons. Although citizens are not strictly categorized hierarchically as disaster responders, in reality there might be a rather loose hierarchy. For example,
some people often exert considerable influence in a community. These people are
either formally designated community leaders or are informal ‘opinion leaders’.
As with experts, drills are suitable for ‘lower’ levels, presumably the majorityof people, whereas gaming simulation is suitable for the ‘upper’ level of citizens.
In this sense, there is a good chance that a ‘Search & Rescue’ game originally designed for experts can also be used by citizens. We will not consider this here, butshould mention that citizens’ experience of such ‘Search & Rescue’ games designed for experts can help them to understand the situation from the perspectiveof the experts. For example, while role-playing a commander and learning how
experts triage an enormous number of disaster victims, citizens will unconsciously
learn the importance of self-help and mutual aid in the community.

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expertsexperts

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citizens
citizens

Strategy
Strategycommander
commander

Tactics

GamingGamingSimulation
Simulation

officers
officers

ManualManualLearning
Learning

staff
staff

Exercise
Exercise
Drill
Drill

Exercise
Drill

Figure 1 A shematic understanding of gaming simulation for disaster mitigation

The ‘Search & Rescue’ game
Our ‘Search & Rescue’ game aims to improve the capability of government officials to deal with crisis situations in the event of disasters. In this presentation,
we introduce three versions of the game.
The first version adopts the style of a traditional Japanese board game
‘Sugoroku’. The basic rules of Sugoroku are similar to those of the ‘Game of Life’in that dice are used to run the game. Compared with other board games of thiskind, the rules are much simpler, so anyone can play after a brief introduction ofthe rules.
This is an advantage to adopting such a game as a first step. Players can learn
the complex structure of disaster manuals by playing Sugoroku. These manuals
cover material ranging from the first indications of earthquakes to dealing withrefuges and mutual aid among municipal government officers. Since these manuals have a wide scope, it is barely possible to learn everything in them, or even tograsp the basics. An examination of the manuals shows that they describe time sequences and cross-sectional activities simultaneously.
The content of the game closely matches the crisis manuals for Kobe, whichwere written after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. These manuals were ana-1101

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Toshiko KIKKAWA , Tsuyoshi AJIRO , Haruo HAYASHI3, Katsuya
YAMORI , Kei HORIE , Mitsuhiro HIGASHIDA , Reo KIMURA , Satoru SADOHARA7lyzed and described using the IDEF0 modeling procedure (National Institute ofSandards and Technology, 1993). Fundamentally, the game is based on this version of the manuals, rewritten using IDEF0, with some slight modifications tomake playing the game more fun.
Another advantage of a gaming simulation is that once translated into aSugoroku game and depicted on one board, it is easy to grasp and understand theoverall situation at a glance.
We made a second computerized version of the ‘Search & Rescue’ game, whichis depicted in Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2 shows the opening screen and Figure 3
shows one of the stages (Stage A in this case) as a player proceeds to the next step.
The structure of the game is exactly the same in both versions. However, thecomputerized version requires a deeper level of information processing and decision making by the player, because the screen limits the view of the player ascompared with the board game.

Figure 2 Disaster prevention ‘Sugoroku’ on PC: The opening

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Figure 3 Disaster prevention ‘Sugoroku’ on PC: Decision making process (Stage A)

The third version of the ‘Search & Rescue’ game, is a different game that isbased on different material. From the outset, the game was designed for standalone use on a computer. As seen in Figure 4, the screen shows a map of a city (inthis case Yokohama, Japan). The aim of the game is for the player to act as thecommander of the fire department at the emergency operations center, and to extinguish fires after an earthquake efficiently and effectively, while rescuing people. This game can test the impact of a player’s allocation of available resources
and logistics planning; to successfully allocate resources and formulate a plan,
players must scrutinize resource and logistics information carefully, as this information is not easily accessible or intelligible.
As may be imagined from the rough description, the game is intended to do
more than simply improve strategic decision making, such as the allocation of resources and planning. It is also designed so that by experiencing failure players
unconsciously learn the importance of information scanning and monitoring inplanning triage and resource allocation. Although players are not told these secondary purposes explicitly, they ultimately learn of them through their experience.

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Toshiko KIKKAWA , Tsuyoshi AJIRO , Haruo HAYASHI3, Katsuya
YAMORI , Kei HORIE , Mitsuhiro HIGASHIDA , Reo KIMURA , Satoru SADOHARA7

Figure 4 The ‘ Search and Rescue’ game on PCConclusion
This paper explains three things. First, gaming simulation can play an importantand promising role in disaster mitigation for both experts and lay people. Second,it proposes a tentative outline for understanding the role of gaming simulations
and other instruction methods in disaster mitigation comprehensively. Finally, itbriefly introduces three versions of a ‘Search & Rescue’ game that we have developed.
Since the ‘Search & Rescue’ game is still being developed, we would appreciate feedback from conference participants who try the game.

References[1]National Institute of Standards and Technology (1993) Integration Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF0). Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 183[2]Weinstein, N. D. 1980 Unrealistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 806-820.

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