An annual exercise that simulates a killer hurricane hitting O'ahu has drawn unprecedented help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week as FEMA continues to deal with the fallout from Hurricane Katrina.

State civil defense officials have been running their "Makani Pahili" exercise for 16 years. This year, it simulates a Category 4 hurricane killing 130 people and injuring 2,000 more in just the first chaotic 48 hours after the hurricane makes landfall on O'ahu.

But FEMA has brought in 40 to 50 officials for the exercise this year and is paying the entire $682,000 cost of the exercise, said Mike Hall, who runs FEMA's western National Incident Management Assistance Team. FEMA officials also insist that they will work cooperatively with state, county and private agencies under the command of Hawai'i's governor.

"After Katrina, the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act directed FEMA to take some additional actions. ... We're here to help the state be successful and turn victims into survivors," Hall said. "We've learned that you don't want consecutive failure."

FEMA was criticized for its response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Today, the Hawai'i National Guard will hold a major exercise in conjunction with Makani Pahili on the Kahuku Medical Center grounds. The exercise will involve more than 300 people, including some acting as casualties and going through triage stations. A convoy of National Guard assets will make its way from Diamond Head and Kalaeloa to Kahuku, and a National Guard CH-47 helicopter will conduct emergency evacuation procedures.

In the simulated Joint Field Office in the Hawai'i Convention Center yesterday, Hall sat side-by-side with his Hawai'i counterpart, Vice Director of Civil Defense Ed Teixeira, handling a barrage of incoming, hypothetical bad news.

"Seventy percent of our homes are heavily damaged, if not destroyed," Teixeira said, giving an update on the hypothetical situation. "We need to come up with food for 1 million people and we still have about 70,000 visitors on O'ahu. So when you put it all together, 48 hours into the exercise we have 130 fatalities and 2,000 people injured, and we still have a lot of people missing."

Officials were focusing on how to get requested resources to the island as quickly as possible. A five- to six-hour flight from California and an eight- to 10-hour flight from Guam posed more problems for FEMA than assistance in the event of a Mainland disaster would.

After providing care and shelter, officials would then focus on restoring airports and infrastructure.

While the test was simulated, Teixeira said the model storm track they used was a "very possible scenario."

"Iniki hit on September (Sept. 11) 1992. Before it made landfall on Kaua'i, it was at a Category 4. So it is plausible," Teixeira said.

Officials will have a summary of the exercise's successes and failures available in about a month, Hall said.

Hall stressed that "all disasters are local," and that all personnel would follow the governor's commands in the event of a disaster.

"It's not we, they. It's us," Hall said. "That's the only way you can focus on taking care of citizens, residents and visitors. We're here to support the state."