[/floatl]Yomiuri: U.S. troops to assist with Tokyo quake disaster drill
U.S. forces stationed in Japan will, for the first time, take part in an earthquake disaster drill to be held by the Tokyo metropolitan government on Sept. 1, Disaster Prevention Day, it was decided Friday. The U.S. forces cooperated in conducting relief activities for the 2004 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake and the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, but Sept. 1 will mark the first time they have dispatched their units and ships to a local government disaster drill. The drill will be based on a scenario that a large earthquake has occurred under a heavily populated area of Tokyo, leaving many people unable to return home...Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who requested the participation of the U.S. Army, said it would be a good idea to utilize the ability of the U.S. forces because the facility is located nearby. For the exercise, the U.S. Army will dispatch a vessel to Tokyo Port from the Yokosuka Naval Base in Kanagawa Prefecture. Thirty metropolitan government officials, posing as victims, will be taken on board and transported to Yokosuka. Two helicopters from the Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, will deliver relief materials, such as medicines, to a drill venue in Adachi Ward and the U.S. Army's temporary heliport at the Akasaka Press Center...more...
