FORT STEWART, Ga. () — At Fort Stewart Tuesday, soldiers and local authorities simulated the aftermath of an earthquake. 

Around 700 participants from military, state and local agencies are participating in Patriot 25. The National Guard sponsored exercise aims to support domestic readiness and interagency coordination following a natural disaster.

Over two weeks, they have worked on simulating the aftermath of a 6.9 magnitude earthquake, and their response. The exercise was focused on search and rescue support, readiness, teamwork and communications.

“We hope that the skills that we practice constantly never need to be utilized but we are there as part of that contingency plan,” Lt. Col. Damon Denzin, Alabama National Guard said. “We constantly exercise a variety of natural and manmade disasters. As I mentioned before, this is an earthquake. We’ve done floods, we’ve done hurricanes, and we practice those things as real as possible so that when the bell rings we are able to respond and take care of the citizens of this country.”

Training locations spanned across Georgia, including Savannah, Fort Stewart and the Guardian Center in Perry.