Rikei Corporation (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Satoru Isaka; hereinafter “Rikei”) is pleased to announce that it has developed Hiroshima Landslide Experience VR in a project commissioned by Hiroshima Prefecture, to be used as contents for gaining knowledge about landslides (mudslides, landslips) and better understanding the importance of evacuating. The plan is to use it in teaching at schools and other facilities in Hiroshima Prefecture.

Background behind the development

In July 2018, western Japan suffered tremendous damage across a wide area due to heavy rains. Hiroshima Prefecture is the area in Japan with the most landslide risk zones and heavy rains in recent years have caused numerous instances of flooded rivers, landslips, and landslides in the prefecture. Moreover, the national Basic Act on Disaster Management was revised in 2021 to make evacuation information easier to understand, for example by merging level 4 evacuation recommendation and evacuation order (emergency) into “evacuation order.”

It was against this background that we developed this product to teach the importance of daily preparations and early evacuation by recreating more realistic situations, which is needed to gather the latest information to be communicated during heavy rains and for knowing signs of a disaster and when to evacuate.

Overview

You can experience story-based simulations about how rain sounds different when you are indoor and outside, signs (advance warnings) that a landslip or mudslide will occur depending on your location, how a disaster happens, and so forth.

Features

• • Experiencing landslides in diverse terrains
    The program can recreate towns and terrains of houses near the foot of a mountain in 360° full CG, making it possible to experience the landslide risks of each area. It recreates mudslides and landslips in four locations: 1) a house at the end of a valley, 2) a house down the river from the end of a valley, 3) a house below a cliff, and 4) a house a bit removed from a cliff.

• • Experts have supervised the landslide signs and occurrence scenes
    We had the Hiroshima University Resilience Research Center supervise how landslides flow, how mud slides down mountain slopes, and what signs there are, which has allowed us to recreate occurrence patterns that are close to reality.

• Reflecting the evacuation information of the Basic Act on Disaster Management revised in May 2021
  This contents recreates a situation where the outside conditions change with time, with announcements of a level 3 warning for “Evacuation of the Elderly, Etc.” or a level 4 warning as an “Evacuation Instruction”

Accessible on the official website of Hiroshima Prefecture

About Hiroshima Landslide Experience VR
https://www.pref.hiroshima.lg.jp/soshiki/249/dosyasaigai-vr.html

*Hiroshima Landslide Experience VR is a work by Hiroshima Prefecture.

Future developments

Rikei is investing in not only this VR but also other disaster prevention-related initiatives. In addition to landslides, we are also developing VR contents for experiencing simulations of sudden rains and river floodings as a way to bring more people’s attention to disaster prevention.

About Rikei Corporation

Since its establishment in 1957 as a solution vendor in the IT and electronics industries, Rikei Corporation has provided a variety of solutions ranging from systems to networks, VR/AR contents, electronic materials and electronic devices.

Rikei proposes solutions that utilize cutting-edge technologies and advanced products from Japan and overseas, and contributes to business development such as improving efficiency of operations and profits of customers.

*Product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.