Missile launch missile launch! Evacuation drill against missiles held in Tokyo subway. Details coming up on @ChannelNewsAsia pic.twitter.com/iDhJBzlhnR
— michiyo ishida (@MichiyoCNA) 22 января 2018 г.
On Monday, Tokyo activated the government’s J-alert system to simulate a missile launch towards the city, calling for people to “evacuate calmly inside a building or underground.”
Around 350 people participated in the evacuation drills in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, as well as a local amusement park, taking shelter in a nearby subway station and buildings, according to local media.
It is the first drill of its kind ever for Tokyo, local media reports, and comes amid heightened tensions over North Korea, which has been actively testing its nuclear and ballistic missiles. Several projectiles launched last year flew over Japan.
“A missile from North Korea would arrive in less than 10 minutes and the first alert would come about three minutes after launch, which gives us only around five minutes to find shelter,” Hiroyuku Suenaga, a Japanese government official, told volunteers after the exercise, as cited by Reuters.