Disaster Preparedness Simulation App

Odisha faces cyclones, floods and heatwaves every year, and the first hours of a disaster are decided by people on the ground. When we started working on Apada Sathi, the challenges were clear:

• Preparedness training was occasional, classroom-based and hard to retain.
• The audience includes elderly villagers, farmers and fishermen, many with limited literacy.
• Content had to be in Odia and work on low-cost Android phones.
• Villages often have poor or no connectivity.
• Each role, from ASHA workers to ward members, has different responsibilities during a disaster.

The core challenge for us was:

How do we make disaster preparedness engaging, practical and repeatable for people in remote villages, in their own language?

We turned preparedness into a game people want to replay, built around real roles, real disasters and a map of their own village.

1. Scenario-Based Simulations

Each session starts with a real situation:

• Three disasters: cyclone, flood and heatwave
• Seven community roles, from ASHA and Anganwadi workers to fishermen and ward members
• Solo mode, plus a facilitator mode for groups of two to seven players
• An estimated session time and scenario briefing before play

2. 15-Round Decision Games

Players make decisions as the disaster unfolds:

• Branching decision trees with four options per round
• Local signs and situation updates before every choice
• No right or wrong answers, only consequences and learning
• Results showing time taken, people saved or at risk, and improvement tips

3. A Village Map That Reacts

The most distinctive part of the app is the map:

• A layered illustration of a coastal village with homes, fields, ponds, shelters and schools
• Every decision changes the map, such as rising water or an opened shelter
• Map rules written by content teams in plain text and applied automatically
• Built and tested for smooth performance on low-end phones

4. Knowledge Library

Learning continues outside the game:

• Questions and answers on evacuation, shelter, health and recovery
• Videos and documents for each disaster type
• Search and bookmarks for quick reference
• Odia text-to-speech on every screen for listeners who cannot read

5. Village Action Plans

Communities turn learning into a plan:

• Village action plans by disaster type
• Status tracking from planned to in progress to completed
• Plans exported as PDF or image, even offline
• Only plan status is synced, keeping village content private

6. Odia-First & Offline-First

We designed for the realities of rural Odisha:

• Odia by default, with English available
• Content bundled with the app and synced in the background when a connection is available
• Phone number and OTP sign-in with no personal details required
• An admin panel for building simulations, roles, disasters and content

Key Features Delivered

• Cyclone, Flood & Heatwave Simulations
• Seven Community Roles
• Solo & Facilitator Modes
• 15-Round Branching Decisions
• Village Map That Changes With Each Choice
• Results with People Saved & Tips
• Knowledge Library with Videos & Documents
• Village Action Plans with PDF Export
• Odia Text-to-Speech
• Offline-First with Background Sync

Every feature was designed to help communities practise for disasters before they happen.

Apada Sathi has been built as a platform that makes disaster preparedness practical and engaging for rural communities.

Impact

• Learning by Doing: Simulations let people practise decisions instead of memorising instructions
• Accessible to Everyone: Odia text, voice narration and simple visuals work for all literacy levels
• Works Where It Matters: Offline-first design keeps the app useful in villages with poor connectivity
• Role-Specific Readiness: Each frontline role practises its own responsibilities
• From Learning to Action: Village action plans turn awareness into concrete preparation