Thousands of city and federal workers were evacuated from seven high-rise government buildings in this second largest US city Thursday to simulate a response to a terrorist attack.

The drill was held just ahead of the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. in 2001.

It was part of the city's first-ever simultaneous multi-building evacuation drill. Under the drill scenario, terrorists had hijacked a jet airliner to fly it into a Los Angeles high-rise.

The evacuations included City Hall, City Hall East, City Hall South, the Los Angeles Police Department's headquarters at Parker Center, the Metropolitan Dispatch Communications Center and the downtown Federal Building.

The county Criminal Courts Building held its own drill during the Civic Center exercise. Once out of the buildings, the workers were directed to designated "safe refuge" areas, which were staffed by police officers, city workers and city firefighters..

The drill began at 10:57 a.m. local time (1857 GMT) and lasted for over an hour.

"It went well," said city Fire Department chief Percy Jones. "It was orderly and there were no problems."

Debbie McCargo of the Department of Homeland Security expressedsatisfaction with the results of the drill. "Everybody was prepared," she said. "We had enough advance warning so we all had,like, water, chairs, and different things because we were supposed to be out here for a couple hours."

"In a post-Sept. 11 world, we want to make sure we know what todo in the case of any emergency," Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn said on the eve of the exercise.

"As the third anniversary of Sept. 11 comes closer, it is important to continue our efforts to ensure the safety of everyone who lives and works in the city of Los Angeles," he said.

Assistant Chief Terry Manning of the Los Angeles Fire Department said that according to the mayor's proposal, all high-rises in Los Angeles are to have full building mandatory evacuations once every three years.

"This is the first step of that," he said.

Source: Xinhua