THE EARTHQUAKE IN ORANGE COUNTY : After ‘Act of God,’ Boarded-Up Plaza Stores Resume Business

La Habra, one of the cities in Orange County hit hardest by Thursday’s earthquake, started returning to normal Friday, as residents and businesses mopped up broken glass and debris.

At the La Habra Plaza, a 30-year-old shopping center, five stores that lost display windows were boarded up but remained open.

Richard Smolinisky, owner of Paraiso Furniture, said he suffered $3,000 in damages.

“It’s not covered by insurance, so all of it will come out of my pocket,” Smolinisky said. “But we were fairly lucky. I have business acquaintances in East L.A., and they suffered a lot more damage. What can you do? It’s an act of God. We’re just happy no one got hurt.”

In the rest of Orange County, damage estimates were incomplete, but the figures were not high.

At the Lincoln Center Mobile Home Park in Cypress, the cost of repairing three homes that were shaken off their foundations would probably be less than $25,000, park manager Virginia Harman said.

Realignment of many of the other 300 homes in the park could cost much more, she said.

Dick Fisher, a spokesman for Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cypress, said no decision has been made on whether to repair or replace a 16-foot-tall, 10-ton statue of Michelangelo’s “David,” which toppled to the ground.

In Brea, repairing cracks in the roof of Brea Community Hospital probably will run $1,000 to $2,000, according to Bud Yoakum, a hospital administrator.

Fixing lights and loosened ceiling tiles at the Brea Dialysis Center, which had to evacuate some patients following the quake, should run about $200, said Ron Kindell, an administrator.

Supermarkets around the county have not yet compiled damage figures, chain spokesmen said Friday, but spokesmen for Ralphs, Safeway and Lucky characterized losses from goods jarred loose from shelves as minimal to moderate.

Police in Los Alamitos said damage to three liquor stores has been estimated at $10,000.

In La Habra, most stores in the Fashion Square shopping center were also open. That was in stark contrast with yesterday, when the parking lots at the center were, for the most part, empty all day. One of the Fashion Square businesses that suffered the most damage was the Wells Fargo Bank building. It had to close Thursday but was open as usual Friday.

About half of the tiled ceiling fell during the quake, bank branch manager LaVon Scism said. Building inspectors had also found a gas leak and a crack in the upper half of one wall. No damage estimate has been made.

The La Habra post office, closed Thursday because of extensive damage to the roof, reopened Friday. Postal officials reported receiving dozens of calls from residents wondering when mail delivery would resume. Postmaster Freddie D. Jackson said every available carrier was on duty Friday to catch up after a day of no mail service.

Nearly 70% of the acoustical tiled ceiling in the mail sorting area either fell during the quake or was been removed as a precaution. Inspectors also found that part of the ceiling had buckled, but the building is safe, Jackson said.

During the quake, the ceiling, including huge fluorescent light fixtures, began falling almost immediately, said Joe Rofe , a delivery supervisor who was there along with nearly 100 other employees.

“The building started rocking and shaking,” Rofe said. “As soon as the building swayed to one side, we told everybody to get out. We had to scramble because the lights and roof started to come down right away, as it was happening. It was scary, but people reacted very quickly and orderly.”

Twelve people were taken to La Habra Hospital on Thursday, most treated for minor injuries. Edna Enyart, an 87-year-old Whittier woman who was thrown to the ground as she sought safety on the sidewalk outside her home, remained in the hospital in stable condition, suffering from a fractured pelvis.

Peter Morgan, a 30-year-old Garden Grove man who suffered chlorine inhalation after he was caught in a cloud of gas as he worked at a Santa Fe Springs printing shop, was released Friday.

A third patient, Paul Daniel, 37, of Whittier, was discharged Friday after being treated for back injuries.

Several passers-by on La Habra Boulevard on Friday looked wonderingly at the boarded-up storefront of Builder’s Glass shop.

“I probably have about $500 worth of damage to my front display windows,” owner Hank Uribe said. “But those are gonna be the last to be repaired. Everybody else comes before me.

“I’ve made about 15 calls to businesses and residences (in La Habra and Whittier) since Thursday morning. The first concern is to get the open spaces boarded up. It’s probably going to be a while before orders can be filled.

“I hear that a couple of the largest tempered-glass suppliers in this area were hit very hard by the quake, so there’s going to be quite a demand.”

City officials in La Habra were counting their blessings Friday because the city, so close to some of the worst destruction caused by the quake, suffered so little, they said.

“We consider ourselves very, very lucky in comparing our situation to that in some other areas,” said Carlene Cook, who is handling quake-related information.

Cook said that no fires were reported in the city and that other damage is considered minor.

“It’s mostly broken glass and windows and some chimney damage at residences, especially in the (older) north part of the city,” Cook said. “Some residents reported their chimneys were sheared off at the roof line.”

Cook said, however, that no buildings have been condemned and that no overall damage estimate has been set.

Times staff writer Mark Pinsky contributed to this story.