Tsunami evacuation experiment using a mobile application: A design science approach

Disaster evacuation drills are one of the important soft countermeasures to ensure proper response when a real tsunami arrives. With the goal of enhancing the traditional evacuation drill, this study developed a mobile application prototype to be used as an educational tool in a drill exercise. The mobile application retrieves the current location of the user and shows the inundation depth of the 2011 Great East Japan tsunami, together with the map, latitude, and longitude. Experiments were conducted in the town of Matsushima and the city of Iwanuma in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, to investigate the effect of using the information provided. These locations were affected by the 2011 tsunami. The results revealed a change in the behavior and decision making of the participants, who considered the inundation depth of their evacuation route and the safety of their chosen destination. This application does not require complex techniques; thus, teachers, drill executors, and community leaders can follow this strategy to enhance their tsunami evacuation drills using mobile devices.