Tokyo: An estimated 795,000 people from Tokyo and 30 other prefectures took part in annual anti-earthquake drills conducted by the central and local governments Tuesday, the 86th anniversary of the 1923 killer quake, the Cabinet Office said.
The central government held the drill on the presumption that a quake with a magnitude of 7.3 and the maximum intensity of upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 pounded the heavily populated Tokyo metropolitan area.
Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet members, who are set to be replaced later this month due to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's crushing defeat in Sunday's general
election, simulated a meeting to order countermeasures for the presumed quake.
At a news conference that was part of the exercise, Aso said, "The government will do its utmost to rescue victims.
I ask people to remain calm."
The national government also practiced setting up a headquarters to coordinate and direct anti-quake measures at a designated facility in Tokyo's Koto Ward.
Japan marked National Disaster Prevention Day on today, the anniversary of the magnitude 7.9 Great Kanto Earthquake that devastated the Tokyo metropolitan area and claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, September 01, 2009, 15:55