Development of educational Manga materials to prevent university students from returning to buildings posing physical hazards immediately after a major earthquake

The major motivation behind this study was to mitigate earthquake-induced losses of life at university facilities that store and handle physical hazards (e.g., reagents, solvents, and gases) potentially causing accidental fires, explosions, poisoning, and suffocation. Educational Manga material has valuable distinctive features. Thus, the present study aims to develop educational Manga materials with an earthquake theme to prevent university students from returning to buildings posing physical hazards immediately after a major earthquake. In this study, two educational Manga materials related to fires/explosions and poising/ suffocation accidents in university laboratories were drawn based mainly on the findings of the authors’ earlier studies. In the former version, main characters were involved in a solvent fire and hydrogen explosion, whereas protagonists were exposed to a toxic gas in the latter. Each Manga material was structured as follows: the first and second sections were unsafe reentering-themed and lessons to prevent such returning, respectively. This study would blaze a trail in developing effective educational Manga materials to prevent university students from reentering building that store and handle chemicals after a major earthquake, which can potentially reduce earthquake-related fatalities at universities.