TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) –About 100 people took part in a disaster training drill in downtown Tokyo on Friday (March 10), a day before the sixth anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and subsequent nuclear crisis.
Participants were able to experience walking through a plastic tent filled with yellow smoke, get hands-on training using automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and receive free emergency rations.
“I participate every year. I was surprised at the number of available automated external defibrillators (AED). I got to train a lot today,” Tokyo resident Noriko Sato said.
A session run by local firefighters also offered participants first-hand experience in using a fire extinguisher and spraying water at a target.
The training drill at Roppongi Hills, one of Tokyo’s high-end shopping and business districts, is held once a year in part to keep fresh the lessons learned from the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis on March 11, 2011.
“A person close to me was affected by the (March 11 2011) disaster. (The drill) may only be held once a year, but it’s an important way to remind us of the disaster,” local resident Naoya Iijima said.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas, which accounts for a fifth of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger.
Japan’s strongest quake on record was one of magnitude 9 that struck the northeast coast on March 11, 2011, unleashing a massive tsunami and killing nearly 20,000 people, besides setting off the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
