The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has a big ambition: to help decision-makers across the globe better understand and act on risk.
The Stop Disasters video game teaches adults and children how to build safer villages and cities against disasters. Users learn through playing how the location and the construction materials of houses make a difference when disasters strike and how early warning systems, evacuation plans and education save lives.
The lessons learned from major disasters have emphasised the need for capacity development to reduce disaster risk. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR) encourages improvements in how nations manage disaster information before, during, and after disasters occur, and highlights the importance of risk communication.
Children and youth under age 30 currently make up more than half the world’s population. They are the ones who will benefit most from reducing the risk and impact of disasters, curtailing climate chaos and achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their contributions are already making a difference through more inclusive disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience-building policies, better prepared households, healthier children and youth and safer communities.
However more can, and must, be done to support and engage children and youth around the world in DRR.
Engaging with all children and youth as key stakeholders and contributors in turbulent times is complex, but vital. If we teach them from an early age about the risks posed by natural hazards, children will have a better chance to save their lives during disasters.
Moreover, children are the future architects, mayors, doctors, and parents of the world of tomorrow. If they know what to do to reduce the impact of disasters, they will create a safer world.
Why differentiate disasters from natural hazards?
An essential step along this journey is acknowledging the fact that there is no such thing as a natural disaster. There are natural hazards that cannot be prevented, such as earthquakes, floods, droughts, and cyclones. But we can curb their destructive power—in other words, stop them turning into major disasters—through careful and coordinated planning that is designed to reduce people’s exposure and vulnerability to harm.
Stop Disasters in the classroom
This simulation game involves five scenarios, requiring players to save lives by building upon an established community and providing defences and upgraded housing to prepare for an inevitable disaster. Each scenario can be played on easy, medium or hard difficulty levels, and takes between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on the disaster and your skill level.
The game can be used in classrooms composed of children 9-16 year old as well as in environments of higher learning. That way everyone will learn more about preventing disasters.
The game was initially released in March 2007 and received a technical refresh in 2019 and May 2024.
It is available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. If you want to translate the game, get in touch with UNDRR via the contact form.
Share your plans and activities
UNDRR invite teachers and community leaders to share their lesson plans and activities that utilize the Stop Disasters game as part of their DRR education efforts. We are also eager to receive information or links to articles about successful DRR events for youth and children that you have organized in the past that use the Stop Disasters Game played a part in.
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