Japan holds nationwide disaster drill. Is PM Modi taking notes?

September 01, 2014 11:13

Here's something for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to learn and take notes during his trip to Japan.

About 2.35 million Japanese citizens today took part in a government disaster drill, hoping to prevent a catastrophe when the quake-prone country is hit by another natural disaster.

Dry runs of evacuations, rescue operations and fire fighting were carried out across the nation to simulate an emergency response to an imaginary quake with a magnitude of 7.3 hitting Tokyo in the early morning.

"I order all the ministers to do their best to respond swiftly and appropriately by placing top priority on people's lives," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

The nationwide drill is held annually on September 1, known in Japan as Disaster Prevention Day which comes on the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake which killed more than 100,000 people and levelled Tokyo.

The government has stepped up its disaster response since the devastating 2011 earthquake in northeastern Japan which triggered a tsunami and sent reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant into meltdown.

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