A NEW series of games dealing with flooding and other emergencies has been developed by Crucial Interactive Media, the team behind the Crucial Crew series of educational safety games.
Commissioned by the Emergency Planning Department at Essex County Council,
the new resources teach children to stay indoors if there's a risk of flooding, how to prepare for evacuation, and to tune in to the radio for news and information. Using the internet and phoning Floodline is also covered, along with the need for checking on neighbours and saving the family photos.
The games were part of a series of resources, including a calendar and wallcharts, which were sent into schools through the Essex region, and made available nationwide via the
Crucial Crew website. They were released in January 2009 to tie in with a BBC child safety campaign.
Rosanna Briggs explained: "This series of interactive games has been designed as part of a toolkit to engage young people in raising their awareness in emergency situations. It will enable professionals to introduce this subject to a wide number of audiences as part of an overall awareness campaign in fulfilling our obligations under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004."
James Houston of
Crucial Interactive Media added: "We had a lot of fun working on this, and trials indicate the kids love playing it too. It's very funny, despite being a serious subject, and we expect this game to be played in classrooms and at home throughout the country."
As well as the game containing the Crucial Crew-style series of choices and consequences, there are some additional features to the resource including a 'grab box' game where the player has to choose which items to put into a box which they will take with them when evacuated from their home. Also a resource to build up a first aid kit, and a sirens game, where the player has to match sirens to whatever makes the noise - a police car etc.
The series of emergency planning games is intended to be developed in the future to tackle issues such as explosions at industrial buildings and chemical leaks.
Further teaching resources and a calendar are available from the
Emergency Planning Team at Essex County Council. For further help and advice about the What If... series of games please contact Rosanna Briggs Deputy County Emergency Planning Officer,
by email or tel 01245 430373
Fore more information about Crucial Interactive Media contact James Houston
by email or tel 0870 608 0092
