MANILA >> U.S. and Philippine troops will train for how to deal with the aftermath should a massive earthquake similar to last year’s quake that ravaged northeastern Japan hit Manila.

Filipino military spokesman Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos said today that next month’s drills would test how troops and disaster-response agencies would deal with a "Japan-like" quake that will be simulated using desktop computers at military headquarters in Manila. The maneuvers will form part of the two allies’ annual military exercises.

Burgos says Japan, along with Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam, will send observers to the quake drills.

Japan and the Philippines lie in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where most of the world’s quakes occur.