TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City on Friday (April 26) hosted drills simulating prevention and rescue operations during a major earthquake, with teams from Japan, the United States, and Singapore taking part.

A magnitude 7.2 quake hit Hualien County on April 3. More than 1,000 aftershocks have since hit the region on Taiwan’s east coast, with the strongest also being felt in Taipei in the north.

Friday’s drills were based on the theory that a magnitude 6.6 quake had hit the capital, with the worst devastation recorded in the districts of Beitou and Shilin, per Radio Taiwan International (RTI). In such an event, 4,100 people might die or suffer grave injuries, 4,400 buildings would collapse, and 13,000 would be severely damaged.

The drills started at 9 a.m. with a test of the earthquake alert messages for residents of the two Taipei districts. Members of an evaluation committee then watched the unscripted response of the participants during the six hours following the supposed disaster.

A rescue team from California, fire fighters from Tokyo, a civil defense unit from Singapore, and Taiwan’s military joined in the rescue work. The drills considered how to find victims trapped in the rubble, how to provide medical care, and how to move the injured to hospitals, and other people to a school functioning as a refuge.