Virtual reality can be a healing tool for disaster-hit communities

Virtual reality should be used to help displaced communities preserve memories, process their grief and share history across generations according to new research

Virtual reality should be used to help displaced communities preserve memories, process their grief and share history across generations according to new research.

The study, by researchers at the University of Essex, showed that VR reconstructions of towns destroyed by disasters allowed communities to “travel back in time” to homes and memories they thought they had lost.

Their findings show that VR technology not only supports memory but regenerates a sense of place and strengthens community resilience and could inform disaster recovery around the world, particularly where climate change forces people to relocate.

The researchers argue that these immersive experiences do more than preserve the past. They invite communities to consider what matters most for the future. By highlighting which cultural and social elements are essential to identity and belonging, they become powerful tools for reflection, continuity, and social rebuilding.

Working with Italian communities affected by a devastating earthquake in 2016, the researchers reconstructed the towns of Accumoli and Amatrice so that residents could explore their former homes using VR headsets.

The REPLACE project has revealed that as well as digitally documenting buildings, VR environments serve as spaces for mourning, emotional healing and memory preservation, supporting community resilience and helping people reconnect emotionally with their lost surroundings.

Dr Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco led the project. She said: “Disasters don’t just disrupt physical environments, there are also long-term consequences for heritage loss and displacement which threaten community identity and individual wellbeing.

“Traditional disaster recovery efforts emphasise physical reconstruction, neglecting the deeper emotional and cultural losses. Taking a community-centred approach and using immersive technology allows people not only to revisit their lost towns, it also allows them to feel, reflect and process their loss collectively, which brings their communities back together and preserves that sense of place.”

The research team interviewed former residents of Accumoli and Amatrice before reconstructing their towns. The VR reconstructions included minute details like flowerpots outside houses, benches outside cafes, fountains and soundscapes of music and chatter in communal spaces.

Residents young and old were able to walk down streets and through piazzas again using VR headsets. In the words of one resident, the experience allowed them to “travel back in time”.

Dr Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco, Dr Francesca Dolcetti and Dr Matteo Baraldo from Essex, working with Steven Dey of ThinkSee3D films, have published their findings in the Journal of International Heritage Studies.

“Residents have described the VR experiences as emotionally intense and deeply meaningful. In their VR towns, they could process their grief and reconnect with lost places, reinforcing their emotional attachment to their pre-disaster homes,” explained Dr Baraldo.

Dr Dolcetti added: “Refamiliarising themselves with their towns helped them cope with their forced displacement and because younger residents who didn’t fully remember their towns before the earthquake relied on older family members to guide them around the VR towns, it enabled intergenerational memory sharing and conversations.”

Members of the public in Italy have been able to experience the VR reconstructions at public events and in local museums with additional events planned for 2026. The research team are also developing a reconstruction of L’Aquila in Abruzzo, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 2009.

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