Evacuation drills must be conducted at least twice a year at each school from elementary through high schools, even at kindergartens in Japan under the Fire Service Law (消防法). The evacuation drill is carried out twice assuming the earthquake or the fire respectively. Their awareness of the drill has been raised since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
In the evacuation drill that assumes the earthquake, students are required to hide themselves under their desks for a little while before they start evacuating from the classroom. When the one that assumes the fire is conducted, they are asked to cover their mouth with a handkerchief while evacuating out of the school building. Students usually run out of the school and gather in the schoolyard, where teachers take a roll call of the students to check all the students in the class are outside.
In the kindergarten, kids are asked to put on a hood to protect their heads during the evacuation. Before the fire drill is over, many schools usually demonstrate how to use a fire extinguisher in the presence of some firefighters as many people don't know how to use it.
