A REACTION PAPER

IN NCM 121 A / B

ON THE GAME

SAKUNWARI

SUBMITTED TO:

MS. KATIE GATCHALIAN, RN, MN

SUBMITTED BY:

FATIMA MEDRIZA DURAN

BSN 4B
 GAMIFYING DISASTER MANAGEMENT
On February 11, 2022, the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute launched Sakunwari, a

board game aiming to gamify disaster management and response as part of their WOKE4COVID

Campaign. The game was launched via Zoom and was also livestreamed on Facebook to reach its

target population, audiences as well as people who are merely interested in knowing how to respond

to disasters and those that are like us – Nursing Students – who want to practice and hone their skills

in disaster response and management.

Sakunwari is a combination of Filipino-derived words, which are sakunâ (disaster), kunwarî

(pretend/simulate), and warì (sense-making/personal assessment). The game is primarily made for the

ones that are responsible for managing disasters at a local level but personally, the game is truly an

effective way of being able to educate and inform people of the proper way that disasters should be

handled, especially the complex ones. In this time, knowledge is crucial, and honing our skills is vital.

Even to people who just want to play it because they want to have fun.

The board game's design is inspired by the Philippine islands, and it reflects the archipelago's and

culture's characteristics.

The fictional territories and Local Government Units (LGUs) on the map are named after deities and

figures from Philippine folklore, and the iconography used is designed to reflect Philippine culture.

For example, a coastal town is named Amansinaya after the Tagalog god of fishermen and fisherfolk,

while Kaptan, an Ancient Visayan counterpart of Bathala, represents the largest city on the map.

Filipinos make informed and science-based decisions in dealing with COVID-19 and other disaster

risks by developing information, education, advocacy, and training materials in multiple media and

languages.

While initially conceptualized as a computer-based game, the proponents decided to develop a game

that could potentially reach more people in communities.

Games like Sakunwari truly are vital for community awareness and information dissemination. At times

like these where disastrous events are prevalent, it is important that people’s decisions are backed by

evidence and science-based facts. It must not be just based on gut feeling and sabi-sabi. I personally

cannot wait to be able to play it and learn how to manage complex and compound disasters, so that in

the future we may be able to properly assess, tolerate, terminate, treat, and transfer; and advice if we

only have to do nothing, do something, and do something extreme. Because what is a better platform

for learning than a game, right?