Virtual and Augmented Reality for Disaster Risk Reduction

Abstract

During a catastrophic event, the ability of the personnel responsible for responding to such an event is due not only to a pre-existing knowledge or ability, but also to the degree of familiarity with the scenario that must be faced. Especially in the case of high-impact but potentially unlikely events, an appropriate response is based on the fact that staff are able to perform their assigned tasks with precision, and to coordinate efficiently with other operators. Psychological effects of stress due to having to face a situation to which the staff is unfamiliar can have a significant impact on performance, thus leading to a degradation in the effectiveness of the intervention and the consequent loss of human life.

Challenges in Virtual Reality Training for CBRN Events

“…While the works presented so far are mainly designed based on requirements collected from military personnel, several works have also been conducted in the context of CBRN in disaster risk reduction and civil protection. In this area, the works of [14,15] (conducted under the Prodige project) are particularly significant. In [14,15], an immersive VR training platform for civil protection training is presented.…”

“…In this area, the works of [14,15] (conducted under the Prodige project) are particularly significant. In [14,15], an immersive VR training platform for civil protection training is presented. The system was tested with different civilian organisations (local police, firefighters, and first responders) in large field trials.…”

“…For this work, especially interesting are VR training approaches applied for first responders, e.g., police training [9][10][11], medical first responder training [12], firefighters [13], disaster risk reduction and civil protection [14,15], and training for chemical, biological, radioactive, and nuclear (CBRN) events, e.g., [16][17][18].…”