Wichita ? More than 900 people from a wide range of law enforcement and emergency service agencies from south-central Kansas have gathered in Wichita for a mass casualty disaster simulation exercise.

The simulation Friday, which included mock explosions and victims screaming for help, continues through Sunday. It followed nearly a week of training in the various phases of responding to a major disaster: from initial response and treatment at the scene to setting up a command center and removing victims safely from collapsed buildings.

Overseeing the exercise is Rescue Training Associates, a Florida company that has managed disaster simulations around the country to help emergency service providers deal with real disasters. The company assisted after the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.

“Most of the departments or organizations don’t really train or work together until a disaster actually hits, and that’s not the time to sort the problems out,” said John Holgerson, president and chief executive officer of Rescue Training Associates.

Friday’s simulation was drawn up to be as “real” as possible: Terrorists were on their way across town to attack a target when car bombs exploded earlier than intended.

Emergency medical teams found mock victims scattered around the blast zone, assessed their injuries, strapped them to backboards and carried them around the corner to an area where they were assessed in more detail.

Many volunteers who served as victims wore moulage, make-up designed to resemble wounds.

The most seriously “injured” victims were loaded into nearby ambulances and taken to local hospitals for treatment.

While rescue teams searched for and treated victims, emergency management officials had to figure out how to provide food for those agencies depending on a destroyed foodbank for supplies.

A scenario built around a terrorist cell operating in Wichita would have been dismissed as unrealistic 15 years ago, Kansas Adjutant General Tod Bunting said Friday.

But not anymore.

“It’s hard to come up with a scenario” that’s unrealistic, he said.