Officials are working to make sure they'll be ready if a major earthquake hits southern Illinois.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency is coordinating a 3-day training exercise that starts Tuesday. It involves more than 100 state and local agencies.

Director Jonathon Monken says Illinois has plenty of experience dealing with things like tornadoes and blizzards, but not the unique challenges of a catastrophic earthquake.

Parts of Illinois are located in the New Madrid seismic zone and could be severely damaged in an earthquake.

The drill was supposed to take place in May, but it was postponed because of a different southern Illinois disaster - extensive flooding.