In Social Studies courses a frequent topic is disaster whether that’s floods, hurricanes, or tsunamis. The obvious question the thinking student may ask is, “What can be done to prevent disasters?” After all, dangerous natural phenomenon will continue to take place, so how can a community that lives in an earthquake or flood zone prepare to survive the next disaster?
Since this is the Internet, you knew that there would be something out there to help students understand. The Stop Disasters! simulation is a tool for just this purpose. It gives a fairly complete idea of how a community can prepare for a natural disaster, and then once the community is hit you learn just how well you did prepare. The obvious challenge is end up with no casualties but providing the people in the scenario with adequate housing that can withstand disasters, and natural defences to protect them.
The scenarios are instructive but a bit confusing. I’ve tried two of them, and in both cases I was supposed to build a hospital to help handle the injured once the disaster struck. I failed to do this since I couldn’t find any buttons that would help me with this job. Maybe there weren’t any, maybe I just didn’t see something obvious. I’m not sure.
Still, I think it’s a neat simulator and well worth trying in class.