The Japanese Cabinet Office is getting into the virtual worlds space, albeit through Second Life rather than its own world. Its plan is to open a Disaster Prevention Museum, showing its plans to cope with earthquakes, storms and floods.
What sort of content is involved? Initially animations showing how poorly-constructed buildings would collapse during an earthquake, or how a tornado would wreak havoc on a city.
The aim is clearly to foster more awareness about this kind of disaster management, and presumably to raise confidence from Japanese citizens in their government’s ability to cope. Naturally, spectacular animations of urban destruction may also attract Second Life users from further afield.
A physical city within Second Life tottering and falling around your avatar in Second Life would be an amazing installation, albeit one that may tax the current technology beyond its capabilities. Still, the area of disaster management and education is clearly a fertile one for virtual treatments.
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