  Because of the occurrence of severe and large magnitude earthquakes each
year, earthquake-prone countries suffer considerable financial damage and loss
of life. Teaching essential safety measures will lead to a generation that can
perform basic procedures during an earthquake, which is an important and
effective solution in preventing the loss of life in this natural disaster. In
recent years, virtual reality technology is a tool that has been used to
educate people on safety matters. This paper evaluates the effect of education
and premonition on the incorrect decision-making of residents under the
stressful conditions of an earthquake. For this purpose, a virtual model has
been designed and built from a proposed classroom in a school of the city of
Tehran. Accordingly, two educational scenarios, presented in reality and the
virtual model respectively, were conducted on a statistical sample of 20
students within the range of 20 to 25 years of age. Within the mentioned
sample, the first group of 10 students were taught safety measures in a
traditional classroom. The second group of 10 students participated in a
virtual classroom. Evaluation tests on safety measures against earthquakes were
distributed after two weeks. Furthermore, two self-reporting tests of
Depression, anxiety, stress test (DASS), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were
assigned to the second group to evaluate the effect of foresight under two
different scenarios. The results show that educating through virtual reality
technology yields a higher performance level relative to the traditional
approach to education. Additionally, the ability to detect earthquakes ahead of
time is an influential factor in controlling stress and determining the right
decisions should the event occur.
