Development of a tsunami evacuation behavior simulation system for selection of evacuation sites

Abstract

In this study, a tsunami evacuation simulation system was developed using a game engine and open data to reflect the conditions of a local emergency situation at low cost. Chigasaki City, which is a heavily populated urban area and tourist destination along the coast of Japan, was selected as the target area for this study. A total of 20 simulations were conducted using 20,000 evacuation agents categorized as child, adult, or elderly residents or visitors randomly placed on the road surface in the target area. The simulation results indicate that a 10.60% agent damage rate may occur for a tsunami of height 10 m. In lowland areas where the river flows inland, tsunamis were observed to move up the estuary, trapping agents between the river and the coast. In such inland areas, several areas with no tsunami evacuation buildings were observed. Thus, the low-cost simulations provided by the proposed system can provide necessary support for planning and designating appropriate tsunami evacuation buildings in disaster-prone areas.