Hundreds of people have taken part in a drill to learn how to guide foreign visitors to safety, in the event a powerful earthquake hits the Asakusa district, a popular tourist destination in Tokyo.

More than 600 police officers, firefighters and local residents were joined by about 180 foreign students of a Japanese language school in the on-site exercise held on Thursday.

The Asakusa Tourism Federation, a group of operators of souvenir shops, restaurants and other businesses in the area, has been carrying out the annual drill since 2012, a year after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The drill is based on the assumption that a jolt with an intensity of upper six on the Japanese scale from zero to seven hits, suspending public transportation.

Participating students, speaking English or Thai, called on all the others, who played the role of stranded tourists, to keep calm when evacuating.

They guided the "tourists" to a temporary shelter where water, food and other emergency supplies are stored.

The drill organizers learned a lesson from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan, when many people became unable to return home in the Tokyo area due to transportation chaos.

Officials of the Sensoji temple, a major tourism site in Asakusa, say as many as 80,000 people visit its neighborhood daily on a weekend or national holiday.

About 108,000 people are estimated to face difficulties returning home at a time of disaster in Taito Ward, where Asakusa is located.

Securing a sufficient number of temporary shelters, with the cooperation of the private sector, is considered a major challenge.

A Taito Ward official says the office plans to let visitors know the importance of staying indoors and avoiding nonessential outings when a disaster hits.

The chairman of the Asakusa Tourism Federation, Fuji Shigemi, stresses the importance of everyone staying calm in an emergency. Fuji says he hopes to heighten awareness of the need for disaster preparedness in the entire district.