Some 2.35 million Japanese residents took part in a nationwide drill on Monday, September 1, as part of Disaster Prevention Day.<br /><br />The exercise is carried out annually on the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, in which more than 100,000 people died.<br /><br />Dry runs are carried out each year in response to an imaginary magnitude 7.3 ‘quake hitting Tokyo in the early morning.<br /><br />Twelve-year-old Kyoko Okada took part in the drill at school.<br /><br />“Many mothers, including mine, came promptly to pick us up today and I think such efforts will save us when a disaster actually occurs,” she said. <br /><br />Yoko Komiya, the mother of 13-year-old Chisato said:<br />“I believe this annual drill will lead to better prevention during future disasters, like the one we experienced in northern Japan.”<br /><br />In 2011, a crippling earthquake in northeastern Japan killed around 19,000 people. It triggered a tsunami and sent reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant into meltdown. <br /><br />Since then, disaster response efforts have been stepped up. <br /><br />The government is urging people to stockpile essentials such as food and water, but also toilet paper as more than 40 percent of Japan’s supply comes from a particularly seismically-active zone.
