ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT STATUS OF SCENARIO-BASED DISASTER RESPONSE TRAINING WITH EXTENDED REALITY.

The aim of the paper is to propose an analysis of the current status of scenario-based disaster response training with extended reality (XR). It is considered the different scenarios designed and developed by XR tools and technologies, and also their application for innovative training to effective response upon the occurrence of various natural disasters. In recent years, with permanently established the climate change, there has been a steady increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters as intensive rainfall, flash floods, droughts, fires and others. It is also reported an ever increasing trend in the harmful effects of these natural disasters on the lives of people, their social relations, economic growth and sustainable development. For these reasons, the adequate activities for preparedness, prevention and reduction of risk are needed. The effectiveness of such actions requires the people to be trained and prepared for disasters enough early before they occur. Existing classical training sessions for response and rescue operations cannot be performed in an easy manner due to established disadvantages, such as the learning pace of each individual is not considered, the learning process lacks the necessary presentation of the real situation and its conditions, while performed exercises can meet existing gaps to an insufficient extent. Nowadays, the training environment has evolved to a more IT enhanced solution using the advancements of Extended Reality (XR), which is an encapsulating term for Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and everything in between. Although AR and VR offer a wide range of revolutionary experiences, the same underlying technologies are powering the XR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]