Evaluation of a support system for large area tourist evacuation guidance: Kyoto simulation results

Most studies on providing evacuation guidance have targeted residents, with little consideration for evacuation guidance for visitors to the area, such as tourists and business people. Accordingly, this study targets the development of a system that supports the safe and efficient evacuation of tourists from disaster areas to specific safe destinations. The system models the evacuation behavior of tourists and then simulates an evacuation process in which a specific evacuation guidance method is utilized. A major characteristic of tourists in disasters is that they tend to converge on the limited number of railway stations, which may result in severe crowding and panic. The system therefore makes it possible to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of various evacuation guidance methods. The effectiveness of the system was tested by simulation of evacuation processes that utilize a phased evacuation guidance method to be introduced in Kyoto, the most popular tourist destination city in Japan.