InsideJapan News Network

Japan has staged its first earthquake drill since the twin tragedy in March earlier this year.

The country upheld its procedures for the yearly Disaster Prevention Day - a drill set up to test the country's durability against a 7.3 magnitude earthquake.

The annual event was first created to commemorate the anniversary of the Great Kanto earthquake, which killed more than 140,000 people in 1923.

Areas affected by the tsunami in March did not participate, while a further 517,000 people took part in the exercise.

The government's cabinet office said: "The country and local governments should reconsider the conventional disaster prevention measures and prepare for every possible scenario of earthquakes and tsunami."

According to the Daily Telegraph, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake would cost the country one fifth of its $1 trillion (£617 billion) economy, killing in the range of 11,000 people.

A mother-of-two, Masako Toshida, described to the publication that the atmosphere surrounding the trial was tenser than she had expected.

Posted by Susan Ballion