The government's disaster prevention panel Friday revised its basic preparedness plan in hopes of ensuring that the elderly and other vulnerable people can evacuate quickly and smoothly, drawing from lessons from the March 2011 disasters.

Under the revised plan, the government will put stronger measures in place to cope with nuclear disasters in light of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant crisis.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed at a meeting of the Central Disaster Prevention Council to take disaster prevention measures in anticipation of a major earthquake directly hitting Tokyo or one predicted to occur in the Nankai Trough off central and western parts of the country.