DEVELOPMENT OF SMARTPHONE APPLICATION TO SUPPORT TSUNAMI EVACUATION

Resumen

Kamakura is a historical city situated along the Japanese coastline, which is at risk of being devastated by a tsunami due to its relatively flat topography and proximity to the Sagami and Nankai Troughs. Evacuation would play an important role to reduce the potential loss of lives resulting from a tsunami event. While carrying out evacuation drills is helpful to enable participants to take appropriate responses during an actual tsunami event, it is not realistic for all the residents to participate in such drills. Furthermore, as some coastal areas are renowned sightseeing spots, there might be many visitors who do not know the area well and struggle to evacuate in the event of a tsunami (Takabatake et al., 2017; 2020). Thus, the authors developed a smartphone application (App) that supports swift tsunami evacuation, which can be especially helpful for those who do not have sufficient knowledge about evacuation routes and refuge places. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the developed app, and to clarify its impact on people’s decision making with regards to evacuation behavior.