Disaster, flooding at Coventry University: an update
A double entry from Coventry, as there’s some overlapping work taking place.
First, Mark Childs provides a jovial update of one of the many strands of virtual world teaching and research currently taking place in Coventry University, for snapshot #8. Mark is on Twitter.
After this is a piece from Dr. Yung-Fang Chen
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Current work at Coventry University includes trialling Second Life with a group of Disaster Management students. This work is being conducted by Drs Yung-Fang Chen and El Parker, with assistance from Mark Childs. The exercise Coventry University Islandia normally runs as a table-top exercise to provide students with an insights to deal with national scale crises and to facilitate them to consider the complex political and social factors involved in the event.
The exercise originally was designed by Dr Andrew Fox. Students take on the role of different agencies coping with a volcanic eruption in a fictional island called Islandia. Students have to go to other organisations to negotiate strategic disaster recovery plans such as financial aid, resettlement of refugees and so on.
The version of the exercise designed for Second Life involved the creation of a series of buildings on Coventry Island, each of which represented one agency. Instructions on the exercise were made available to students through clickable notecards distributed on tables in the buildings. Students’ avatars moved between the different buildings to talk to the different agencies and plan how to respond to the disaster.
The students’ response to the exercise was that, for most, it was a very positive learning experience and plans are for this to be incorporated into the Disaster Management module in future.
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The first pilot virtual world strategic flood emergency management exercise was conducted on the 4th December 2009. The exercise was developed by Dr Yung-Fang Chen and Dr El Parker and Mr James Townsend at the Applied Research Group in Environmental Hazards and Risk, Coventry University and Ambient Performance by using Forterra’s OLIVE platform. The projected has been heavily supported by an extensive advisory panel of emergency management professional who formed the participants of this pilot session.
The simulated flood event, a 1 in a 1000 year event, takes place in Silverdale County and affects the county town of Willsdon and its population of 20,000 extremely severely. Parallels can be drawn with events in Carlisle in 2005, Herefordshire and Worcestershire in 2007 and most recently in Cumbria just before Christmas. Emergency management professionals from the blue light services, local councils, the Environment Agency and the Met Office were involved in decision making and co-ordinating a response to the unfolding events. The scenario included the potential loss of power supply and drinking water to the population and flooding of a vegetable oil processing plant and subsequent pollution of the area, requiring targeted evacuation of vulnerable population, development of a public information strategy and considerations for business continuity. Participants’ response to the exercise was that, the platform has great potential alternative for future large scale multi-agencies exercises.
