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

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

The State Emergency Operations Center in Phoenix along with many county, tribal and municipal emergency operations centers will be activated during the exercise to test activation procedures and staff training. Planning for the exercise has been in the works for nearly a year.