Evacuation drill Held at Okinawa school Adjacent to US base

January 30, 2018

Ginowan, Okinawa Pref.- An evacuation drill was held Tuesday at an elementary school located right next to the US Marine Corps' Futenma air station in this southern Japan city, on the assumption of US military aircraft flying over the school's site.

The school in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, is where a window frame fell from a CH-53E large transport helicopter belonging to the Futenma base in December last year.

The drill was conducted during a physical education class, in the presence of teachers and officials of the Defense Ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau, according to Ginowan's education board.

After being told to evacuate, students ran from the schoolyard.

On Jan. 18, US military aircraft, including an AH-1 attack helicopter, flew over the elementary school. Okinawa Prefecture lodged a protest against the US side, claiming that the flight constitutes a violation of an agreement between Japan's Defense Ministry and the US forces in Japan to avoid flights over any school as much as possible.

Since the incident of the window frame falling from the sky, the elementary school in Ginowan has been suspending the use of the schoolyard.

On Jan. 23, an AH-1 attack helicopter of the Marine Corps made an emergency landing on Tonaki, a small island in Okinawa Prefecture, in a third emergency landing incident involving U.S. military helicopters in the southern Japan prefecture this month. Jiji Press