People at schools, offices and police posts practiced how to head for safety from seismic waves and how to protect themselves in the event of a major earthquake, the government said.

The drill came two weeks after Japan's fears of the dreaded "Big One" were renewed by an earthquake registering 7.2 on the Richter scale off the northern coast, which injured around 60 people but miraculously killed no one.

This year, the exercise focused on tsunami disaster training, with workers helicopters and boats practicing how to rescue people from a wave-struck coast.

Japan has been a major donor to countries hit by the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 217,000 people, and has since then stepped up drives to increase awareness of the seismic waves.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took time off from campaigning for the September 11 general election to hold a mock press conference after a hypothetical earthquake hit Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo.

His cabinet, all wearing blue and grey rescue workers' uniforms, also held a mock emergency meeting with Koizumi exchanging the latest news by video conference with Chiba mayor Keiichi Tsuruoka.

Military planes flew physicians and nurses from Tokyo to Chiba and transferred the "injured" to outlying hospitals. Schoolchildren were shown how to put out fires as they put handkerchiefs over their mouths to protect themselves from smoke.

The drill prepared for commonly-forecast scenarios such as an earthquake of 7.3 on the Richter scale hitting Tokyo Bay. For the first time, the exercise also included Japan's new Disaster Medical Assistance Team, a medical unit on standby only for emergency rescue.

Later, Koizumi headed to Chiba to try out a machine meant to simulate powerful earthquakes.

With cameras rolling, the premier sat on a chair and was riveted by the simulator, which was mounted on a truck.

When the intensity was cranked up to seven, the highest level on the Japanese scale, a table in front of Koizumi began to rattle.

"It's awful. It is destructive," Koizumi quipped.

He later told reporters, "I could see the horror of an earthquake. I felt there is still more need for us to be prepared on a day-to-day basis. The government for its part should take various countermeasures."

Disaster Prevention Day marks the anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, which left more than 140,000 people dead or unaccounted for in and around Tokyo on September 1, 1923.

A similarly devastating tremor is forecast to hit the capital at any time because historically major quakes hit at an average of 69 years apart.

Japan endures 25 percent of the world's major earthquakes and has built its infrastructure accordingly, with Tokyo's high-rises designed to sway and withstand powerful tremors.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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