Natural Disasters Simulator

Pick a place. Pick a disaster. Set how strong it is.

Natural Disaster Simulator is a simulator of the things the planet does on its own. A town, its streets, the forest behind it and the sea in front of it are laid out below you, and you decide what happens next: a tornado on the ground, a hurricane coming ashore, a volcano waking up. Tap the map to start it, then watch what it does to the land.

FOURTEEN DISASTERS
Four categories. Storms: a tornado you can steer with your finger, a hurricane with an eye and spiral rain bands you can see from above, a thunderstorm that throws lightning where you tap, and a wall of dust. Earth: an earthquake that ruptures along a fault, a landslide and a sinkhole. Fire: an eruption with an ash column, lava bombs, lava that finds its own way downhill and pyroclastic flows, a wildfire that follows the wind and climbs the slopes, and a meteor strike. Water and ice: a tsunami, a flood, a blizzard and an avalanche.

THE REAL SCALES
Every disaster has five steps, and the steps are the ones scientists use. Tornadoes run from EF1 to EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. Hurricanes are Category 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Earthquakes are moment magnitude 5 to 9, and eruptions are 2 to 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The field guide in the menu explains each one.

SEVEN REGIONS
A harbour city at a river mouth. A volcanic island with jungle to the waterline. Farmland to the horizon under a very big sky. An alpine valley under peaks that keep their snow. A high desert town. A chain of low tropical keys. A subarctic coast with a volcano asleep under an ice cap. Every one is invented, every hill, street and tree generated on your device.

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER
An earthquake under the sea raises a tsunami. Lightning starts fires, and rain puts them out. Lava that reaches the sea, a lake or flood water freezes in a cloud of steam, and sets the forest alight as it passes. Nothing is scripted: the fire, the lava and the water are worked out as they go, from the shape of the ground.

SEQUENCES
Queue two, three or four disasters with a delay between them and watch them meet. An eruption, then a flood over the lava. A forest fire, then the thunderstorm that fights it. A great earthquake, the landslides it shakes loose and the wave that follows. Six presets, or build your own.

THIRTEEN SCENARIOS
Each one is the sandbox with a question. Level three hundred buildings with a single EF5 before it ropes out. Burn four square kilometres in two minutes. Raise a tsunami without touching the water. Put out a forest fire that is already running, with rain alone. Three stars if you finish inside the par time.

SAVE THE LAST THIRTY SECONDS
The video button keeps the last half minute and hands it to the share sheet, for Photos or a friend.

WATCH, SLOW DOWN, LOOK CLOSER
Drag to look around, pinch from satellite height down to street level. Pause, slow time to a third, or run it three times faster. Change the hour from dawn to night, when the town's lights come on and the lava glows.

THE DAMAGE REPORT
Buildings destroyed, people displaced from their homes, land and trees lost, and an estimate of the cost. Nobody is shown and nobody is hurt: these are invented places, and the numbers are the simulation's own. Restore the region with one tap.

NOTHING ELSE
No account, no sign-in, no ads, no purchases, nothing collected, and no downloads: every landscape, sky and sound is made when the app opens, which is why it is small and works with no connection at all. Settings has a switch to reduce flashing for anyone sensitive to bright light.

Natural Disaster Simulator is a simulation, not a forecast. It does not track or warn of real events. For warnings where you live, use your national weather and geological services.

Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Privacy Policy: https://guerreroemmanuel23-hub.github.io/naturaldisastersim-legal/privacy-policy.html