ALBANY (AP) -- About 1,800 National Guard members from New York and several other states are taking part this week in a disaster response exercise.

It's called Exercise Vigilant Guard, and it simulates New York National Guard response to a 5.9 magnitude earthquake hitting the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region. The exercise scenario calls for the governor to send the National Guard to assist Erie and Niagara County officials in responding to a major disaster.

National Guard teams will be conducting hazardous materials detection drills in Niagara Falls and Lockport. In the city of Tonawanda, specialized units from New York and Pennsylvania will simulate the search for casualties at a rubble pile especially constructed to replicate a collapsed hospital.

The New York National Guard's Joint Operating Center in suburban Albany will up and running during the exercise, which wraps up on Thursday.

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