The government held a nationwide disaster drill on Thursday to test an emergency response to a massive earthquake in the Nankai Trough off central and western Japan.
Local governments also held separate drills, in which about 1 million people in 36 of 47 prefectures took part. The annual exercises are held on the day a devastating temblor struck the Tokyo area in 1923.
At the government's emergency disaster headquarters' meeting in Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave an order to Cabinet ministers, saying, "The state must make full-scale efforts and take swift measures by placing priority on saving lives."