Government agencies, businesses and other organizations in Arizona plan to participate in an exercise to practice how the state would respond to a migration of 400,000 people following a catastrophic earthquake in Southern California.

The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs says participants in the National Mass Care Exercise in the coming week will tackle how to organize operations such as providing food, shelter and medical services.

The department says its planning for the exercise has been underway for nearly a year.

The State Emergency Operations Center in Phoenix along with many county, tribal and municipal emergency operations centers will activate during the exercise to test activation procedures and staff training.