- Title: CHILE: Animated tsunami game launched to teach children survival skills
- Date: 7th May 2013
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) STUDENT EDUARD, SAYING: "If there is suddenly an earthquake and I don't know what to do, the game teaches me what to do and where to go (for protection)."
- Embargoed: 22nd May 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Chile
- Country: Chile
- Topics: Disasters,Education,General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAP38G1HNF97RVD27GCUZ3NPQ0
- Story Text: The tsunami survival game starts with a strong earthquake which knocks the central character - a soccer playing child - to the ground. The child is then forced to escape from danger in record time, seek safe areas and avoid the killer waves that follow.
Thirteen-year-old student Monica Vilos, one of several children playing the game for the first time, admittted she would not know what to do in case of a tsunami.
"Not at all, I don't know how to," she said.
In 2010, Chile was hit by a magnitude 8.8 quake and ensuing tsunamis that hammered towns, roads and industries in south central Chile and killed more than 500 people.
Three years kater, the game has been created by Dr. Marcelo Lagos Lopez, a specialist in extreme natural processes from the University of Chile, graphic designer Genzo and the animation company IguanaBee led by Daniel Winkler.
Winkler says that the game is still a prototype with improvement to be made.
"Our original target audience were children from five to nine years of age, because they are more susceptible to acquire that information, they can then pass it on to their parents or relatives should they ever find themselves in a similar situation," Winkler said.
Winkler says the game will give children tools that could save lives in a disaster.
The game, called "Tu Tsunami" (Your Tsunami) challenges players to guide the child character through a damaged city until they reach a height of 30 metres (98 feet) in under 15 minutes.
In the meantime, the child has to jump over cracks, avoid gas leaks, fire and liquefied nitrogen. In order to score more points the user can warn people about the tsunami.
Lagos Lopez, says the video game provides an entertaining forum for enriching a child's knowledge about how to act.
"An important number of victims from Chile's tsunami in 2010 were children. The objective of this game is to show a child that if an earthquake sends him/her tumbling to the ground on the coast, he/she has very few minutes to save his/her life and that decision depends on how educated he/she is. This video game looks to tackle those weak points," he said. "The game allows the user to quickly reach a save zone, tackle obstacles and learn that the threat from tsunamis in Chile are permanent and one lives with that risk but always to be prepared, always concentrating on keeping oneself save."
As a resident of earthquake-prone Japan, Professor Miura, a graduate from the Science and Engineering Faculty at Yamaguchi University, met with Lagos Lopez and Winkler to share knowledge to enrich the video game's content.
"Japan and Chile, both countries, have been damaged by tsunamis and earthquakes. That is why we have learned a look about these topics and came here to share our experiences and knowledge in order to prevent future damages in the future," he said.
"If there is suddenly an earthquake and I don't know what to do, the game teaches me what to do and where to go," said one student.
"Tu Tsunami" (Your Tsunami) will eventually be downloadable from an internet portal but will first be presented at the La Moneda Palace on large screens for children to play and assess..
Chile has upgraded a tsunami alert for its coastline and remote Easter Island territory after 2010's quake and tsunami caused an estimated $30 billion hit to the economy between damaged infrastructure, property and lost productivity. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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