September 1st is National Disaster Prevention Day in Japan to commemorate the Great Kanto Earthquake that hit Tokyo and surrounding areas in 1923. Although the Tokyo Metropolitan Government normally holds its annual Comprehensive Disaster Management Drill around this time, the drill was delayed and was held on October 29 this year because of continued recovery efforts following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 to reflect the lessons learned from this major disaster.

As one of the ANMC21 joint projects, the Network for Crisis Management aims to accumulate and share experiences and knowledge in crisis management among the member cities of the network. To develop human resources capacity in crisis management, the rescue teams from member cities in Asia joined this annual disaster drill held by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

This year, a total of 21 emergency crew members from Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, and New Taipei City (Taiwan; as an observer) took part in this joint drill, making it the largest group of participants from overseas since the drill started.

The group stayed four days in Japan and participated in an orientation, a lecture, and observation tours prior to the drill.

The lecture was given by a crew member of the Tokyo Fire Department, who engaged in rescue activities in the disaster-affected areas as a member of the Emergency Fire Response Team following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11. The lecturer mainly presented a summary of their actual rescue activities during the crisis. The participants earnestly listened to real stories of disaster crises as the lecturer explained about tsunami damages that far exceeded anyone's prediction, the accumulation of snow that hindered their rescue activities, and the importance of equipment management and attention to the condition of crew member's health. Questions were actively brought up by the participants along with their words of praise for the rescue efforts during the crisis.

The observation tour took the group to the Rinkou Fire Station of the Tokyo Fire Department. The group watched a demonstration of rescue activities for water accidents and experienced a ride on the fireboat "Miyakodori," which is capable of shooting water 25 times the amount of what a standard pumper truck can do. Miyakodori was called in on March 11 to battle the gas tank fire in Ichihara City, Chiba. The participants watched the demonstration while being on the boat and were all impressed by its powerful flow of water.

Meanwhile, prior to the main drill, the team of overseas rescue crews participated in a 2-day joint training and technical exchange session together with members of the Rescue Task Forces of the Tokyo Fire Department, the 8th Fire District HQ.

The training was held in Japanese, from warm-up exercises to calls. The overseas members seemed to be a little uncomfortable in training procedures and styles with which they were unfamiliar, but gradually became relaxed to enjoy the differences from their home countries and the uniqueness of Japanese-style rescue training.

For the drill, the overseas team was assigned to a lifesaving mission from a collapsed building. During the pre-drill training, the team discussed and simulated each member's moves using a set of a collapsed building established within the 8th Fire District HQ's facilities to get prepared for the drill.

About 15,000 people including firefighters, policemen, and local residents participated in the drill, which was held at the Koganei Park, Koganei City under a scenario that an earthquake of over lower-6 on the Japanese intensity scale has hit Tokyo. Wearing uniforms and equipment they have brought from home, the members of the overseas rescue team joined the last part of the drill as a regional support team and successfully performed rescue work in front of audience to save injured people out of a collapsed building.

On completing the 4-day training schedule, the members of the overseas team expressed that although the time was limited, the training was productive in learning and understanding rescue procedures and techniques practiced in Tokyo while appreciating the differences from those in their home countries.

Each member of the overseas team, with their experience of joining the training in unfamiliar language and culture and with the deepened mutual understanding among the participants, is ready to contribute to the improvement in crisis management skills of their home town. And this will further lead to an establishment of better personal network and an enhancement of global partnership.