SDF Hold Disaster Drills in Northeastern Japan

November 10, 2018

Tokyo--Japan's Self-Defense Forces conducted disaster drills in the six prefectures in the Tohoku northeastern Japan region on Saturday, assuming an earthquake, tsunami and heavy rain.

The SDF disaster response drills in Tohoku, the largest of its kind, took place for the first time in four years and the third time overall.

A total of 142 municipalities joined the drills, aimed at strengthening cooperation between related organizations, up from 59 in the previous exercises.

The three-day drills, which began on Friday, are bringing together some 13,000 SDF members and personnel from 136 municipalities and 72 organizations in the six prefectures.

The drills were held under a scenario that a powerful earthquake measuring up to upper 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 occurred off the Sanriku Pacific coastal area and caused tsunami on Friday, in addition to disasters including landslides triggered by heavy rain on the Sea of Japan side.

Using the SIP4D disaster information-sharing system, each participating organization checked damage and confirmed steps for initial responses to the disasters.

On Saturday, exercises were conducted to respond to local situations. In Namie, a Fukushima prefectural town where an evacuation order after the March 2011 nuclear accident was partly lifted last year, a Ground SDF helicopter practiced rescuing people acting as disaster victims from above an elementary and junior high school.

The Air SDF transported an individual playing the role of an injured person who needs surgery from its Matsushima base in Miyagi Prefecture to Shonai Airport in Yamagata Prefecture.

On Sunday, rescue drills will take place on a bathing beach in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, using the Amphibious Assault Vehicle 7 of the GSDF. Jiji Press