THE LOS ANGELES EARTHQUAKE : Echo of Past Forces Immigrants to Camp Out

Thousands of Latin American immigrants, reminded of disastrous earthquakes in their homelands in recent years, camped out Thursday on the streets, in parks and in parking strips because they were afraid to return to their homes.

Many, particularly residents of old downtown apartment buildings, indicated they planned to stay all night. With radios propped up and bedspreads on the grass, some prepared for a stay of one night or more.

In the 3200 block of Descanso Drive in the Silver Lake district, more than two dozen adults and children carried chairs and blankets from a three-story stucco apartment building where the quake had left cracks in the foundation and had knocked plaster from walls.

“I don’t know where I’m going to sleep tonight,” Octavio Torres, 32, said, “but I’m not going to sleep here.”

Ignacio Torres, 39, agreed: “Nobody sleeps in here tonight.”

His 12-year-old daughter, Veronica, said she planned to stay up all night--outside.

There was, for the early part of the warm evening at any rate, a sort of festive mood, with some of the residents enjoying beer or soft drinks. John Zamora, 25, their across-the-street neighbor, opened up his porch and front yard to sleepers.

The residents said the building’s owner had promised to drop by today to check out the quake damage.

Elsewhere, seamstress Maria Zamora, a Mexican immigrant, said she felt she was better able to handle the quake because she had lived through worse in her homeland.

“I was at work on the 10th floor of the factory downtown when it happened and the lights went out,” she said. “The Chinese ladies all screamed. The Mexican women just ran for the stairs.”

Despite her apparent equanimity, she said she planned to spend the night outside.

“We’re staying outside until . . . who knows?” said Leticia Dominguez, who was camped out with her husband at MacArthur Park.

“We were in Mexico when the earthquake struck two years ago, and many people were killed from aftershocks when they went back into their homes,” she said. “Your fear is so great after you’ve been through it once that you expect the worst.”

The Mexico City earthquake, which struck Sept. 19 and 20, 1985, killed at least 6,000 people. Another quake in San Salvador in October, 1986, killed 1,500 and left thousands homeless. One of the most devasting remembered by many immigrants here is the Guatemalan quake that killed 25,000 in 1976.

Many Latino immigrants who stayed outside Thursday were tuned to radio station KSKQ, which was hooked up live with a Central American station so residents here could tell their relatives they were safe.

One Guatemalan, identified as Alberto Rebollo, called the station to say he had instinctively jumped out of his second-story window during the quake, injuring both legs. He told the station he had called 911, and was told the emergency service could only help in life-and-death cases. The station broadcast his plight, and a reporter from the station who happened to be nearby took him to a hospital, a station spokesperson said.

The station recommended that many residents stay outside at least 48 hours in case of aftershocks. That move was criticized by some other Spanish language stations as exacerbating fears.

Rumors spread from blanket to blanket at MacArthur Park. One woman said she had heard another, bigger, quake was due at 3 p.m. Another heard it was scheduled for between 7 and 8 p.m. Yet another said the rumors were baseless, but decided it would be safer to remain outside.

Most of the 50 residents of a dilapidated apartment building near the garment district downtown spent the day sitting on the steps and tiny front yard, afraid to go back into their debris-filled building.

“We’re sleeping outside because at least it’s safer,” said Guatemalan Sarbelina Solano, 38. “As soon as it started shaking this morning I saw in my mind thousands of dead people like in Guatemala, walls fallen onto the streets with people under them.”