Shanghai holds air raid drill
( 2002-08-14 10:01 ) (1 )

Shanghai, China's largest city, held a one-hour air-defence exercise Tuesday to remind residents of the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937 and increase residents' awareness of national defence.

At 9:30 am, 28 sirens were sounded to warn people that enemy flights were coming. The sirens covered 30 square kilometres in the exercise area, the Changning District.

The district's civil defence headquarters instantly organized the evacuation of people to the suburbs and underground shelters.

At 10 am, the sirens sounded again to warn people the raid was about to begin.

Defence troops hung reflectors as protection on the buildings of major targets such as broadcasting and telecommunication facilities, electrical transformer substations, and gas storage, oil storage and waterworks facilities. The troops shot into the air to disturb the enemy radar and disguise the targets from fighter planes.

One of the two enemy scouts in the exercise was shot down and the other fled but some enemy bombers broke the defence and hit several simulated targets.

Then the enemy bombers were destroyed and a long siren told people the air raid was over. Mayor Chen Liangyu said the drill was necessary to help Shanghai strengthen its civil defence.