Leaders from 16 area localities convened in Suffolk Monday to discuss the massive destruction of Hurricane Zulu, a category 3 storm that tore through the region two weeks ago.

But Zulu isn’t a real storm; it’s actually a central part of a lesson in being prepared for emergencies.

On Monday, 140 real leaders, from areas including Suffolk, Newport News, Poquoson and Surry County, gathered at Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center for the first part in a four-day event to train them in emergency response preparedness.

VMASC received a $400,000 grant from the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness to train government officials to deal with several types of emergencies, such as a shooter at a school.

In addition to the emergency offices for all of the localities and the OCP, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and Hampton Roads Regional Planning District Commission are participating in the event.

Bob Spieldenner with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management said his office’s main goal is preparedness.

But, he said, being ready for immediate problems can sometimes overshadow the reactions to long-term problems.

The response to these problems, like long-term power outages and debris cleanup, was the aim of Monday’s tabletop exercise.

For the lesson, the officials divided into two rooms in VMASC — one for the Peninsula and one for the Southside. Additionally, impartial experts stayed in a third room, available for both teams.

Barry Ezell, associate professor of research at VMASC, said the experts, such as representatives with Dominion Power or the Virginia Department of Transportation, have to understand what is happening with both sides.

After being faced with a simulation of a category 3 hurricane tearing through the area, the leaders had to work together while communicating with the team in their responses to the aftermath.

Ezell said the simulation is a good opportunity for the officials to gain a clearer view as to who does what in emergencies, so there is no overlap in the case of a real incident.

He said the exercise presents a challenge for the leaders to make decisions while still communicating with the other localities, and it’s better when unexpected things happen during the simulation.

“These (exercises) are successful when things happen that you don’t anticipate,” he said. “That’s when the real learning takes place.”

Ezell added Monday’s tabletop event encompasses everything the center specializes in.

“VMASC’s role is to provide modeling and simulation support, to inject technology into the tabletop,” he said. “What we can’t do with simulation, we will do with good old-fashioned research and analysis.”

Additional readiness exercises are going on all this week. Today’s event will present officials with the scenario of a hostage situation on the former campus of Tidewater Community College in Suffolk. Then, on Thursday, officials will review how to handle a mass causality event at Harbor Park in Norfolk.