1.33 million take part in disaster drill in 43 prefectures

most of building nowadays are pretty safe , most disaster will come as a form of Fire, tsunami or Radiation.

Excuse my cynicism, but the March 11 earthquake two years ago showed just how inadequate and pointless these drills really are. The wheels fell off pretty damn quickly in Tokyo and all the back up systems failed. Even the Toei-Oedo line, which is supposed to be the emergency evacuation line, shut down. Having these drills only serves to give people false hope. The only thing you can rely on in the event of a large quake is your own initiative and a truck load of luck. Apologies for the cynicism.

I was woken up by a loud alert on my phone (which was set to silent mode, and whose volume never goes much above the bare minimum) which had me panicking until I saw that it was just a drill (訓練). Once I saw that, I was angry that the phone company would broadcast this bogus alert (overriding users' volume settings and waking up anyone who's normally asleep at that hour) without our permission.

I'm still not sure what to think about this. I don't recall signing up for this alert service and am still walking around in a sleep-deprived daze because as a night-shift worker 8:30 AM is in the middle of my "night" and I couldn't get back to sleep after this. I've been in Japan for years, have had a mobile phone for all of those years, and have never experienced this before.

And while I know that the infamous 1923 earthquake occurred on September 1, that was at noon, not 8:30 AM.

I'd feel differently if this were a genuine earthquake, even an earthquake far from my location. But it wasn't.

Yep, that is exactly the point. The 1923 quake was at noon while most people wee at work. The Kansas quake was at 5am while most people were sleeping. The 3/11 quake was at 3:15 in the afternoon while many people were in transit. While education and awareness are important the variables make it impossible to be prepared, which is why I think these drills are not important. Many people have emergency kits in their homes, which mean nothing if you are at work or on a train. That is why I say, surviving a major quake comes down to personal initiative and a lot of luck.

ThonTaddeo Put your phone into airplane mode while you sleep. Works like a charm.

What's the helmet meant to protect？

I remember these drills as a child in 1960 in America, They only make people feel good and have no real significance. Showy showy, we made the people prepared, good job, pat on the back. When it comes down to it, it does not amount to a hill of beans just show. The earth is quaking under me, where is my desk to hide behind? The only good drill is the one I drill the wood with before putting the screw or bolt into it.

which is why I think these drills are not important

Out of sync.

Go on then make the call to have them abandoned etc Mr Big. Do it. Call any single government. Let me know how that goes.

The drills are priceless. Without them there will be chaos the likes of which you can go home and witness at that time or the rest of the malais when that happens.

Why do I never know about these drills until they are over and JT is reporting them?

The drills happen every year on Sept 1 which is Disaster Prevention Day.

Disillusioned,

Plenty made it to high ground on 3/11 because they had rehearsed it. Do they think drills are superfluous?

Get Real

Agreed. Also good for kids to participate so they don't freak out too much when a big earthquake hit and get on with the job of surviving..

Disaster drills have 2 objectives: 1) make the populations aware of the emergency behavior and SOS points/food/water availability and 2) help the rescue people to evaluate their state of preparedness to fine-tune/improved their procedures.

These are invaluable exercises, even though they may look sometimes childish.

3/11 just proved Japan was ready to face a massive disaster. No panic, incredible civic sense, and so on... I cannot imagine any other country being that prepared for such big event involving millions of people.

We can argue about other topics in Japan, but disasters require discipline from everyone, otherwise a mega civil mess is the immediate consequence.

On Disaster Prevention Day you should go under a table like PM Abe shows in the picture to prevent injury to the head. But there are more injuries you must remember to prevent from happening. In Ishinomaki General Hospital, doctors treated patients with low temperature, lung inflammatory, drug abuse from sleeping pills, skin eye nose allergy, and shock. There were patients with intestinitis, but remember alcohol doesn't kill a virus. Good luck to all when a disaster hits. From my experience after 3/11, everybody for themselves until help arrives.