State Seeks Federal Aid for Earthquake Victims : Deukmejian Asks Relief for 12,000 Homeless and Owners of 10,600 Damaged Structures

State disaster officials asked for federal aid Monday to help the owners of 10,600 earthquake-damaged homes and businesses in Los Angeles and Orange counties while Red Cross volunteers sought long-term shelter for 1,400 displaced victims.

Late Monday, Gov. George Deukmejian asked President Reagan and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to declare major disaster areas in the two counties, where a 6.1 earthquake and a 5.5 aftershock have caused more than $125 million in damage.

The declaration would clear the way for federal disaster relief for more than 12,000 people forced from 9,164 homes and 1,455 businesses damaged by Thursday’s and Sunday’s quakes, which struck hardest in several San Gabriel Valley cities.

The temblors along the Whittier Fault have killed three area residents, injured hundreds more and may be linked to four fatal heart attacks. The toll to private property has been enormous, costing homeowners and merchants more than $117 million. Another $8.1 million in losses resulted from damage to government buildings and public roads.

Hundreds of the dispossessed continued to camp out in parks and near their shattered homes, fearing more aftershocks. Some were persuaded to sleep under circus tents erected by the Red Cross.

Besides his disaster request, Deukmejian said he had notified the Legislature’s top leaders that he was considering calling lawmakers into special session if necessary to vote additional assistance to earthquake victims.

A presidential disaster declaration would clear the way for individual and family grants of up to $5,000, temporary housing assistance and low-interest loans to repair and rebuild homes and businesses damaged by the earthquakes.

Disaster centers are expected to be set up throughout the devastated areas to assist victims in filing claims.

Deukmejian also ordered the state Office of Emergency Services and other state agencies to consider increasing the amount of individual and family grants, providing state grants to offset the cost of repairing damage to county, city and school district facilities and to seek the cooperation of banks and credit institutions in taking into account “the disastrous conditions” that have affected borrowers.

In the stricken cities of the San Gabriel Valley, local disaster officials were still contending with safety problems caused by the Sunday aftershock.

Aftershocks continued to rumble, including a 3.4 tremor recorded just after midnight Monday that caused frightened residents to flee their homes again. Several displaced quake victims who had spent the night at Red Cross shelters left their cots to camp out on lawns and sidewalks.

Concerned about the fate of crumbling buildings in Uptown Whittier, city officials Monday declared 12 blocks of the district a disaster area and directed businesses not to reopen until further inspections are completed. More than 100 businesses will be affected.

‘Real Concerns’ for Safety

“In looking more closely at the buildings, we have some real concerns for public safety,” City Manager Thomas G. Mauk said Monday.

Although the area was closed to traffic, police said hundreds of people ducked under yellow crowd-control tape to get closer looks at the destruction. None were arrested, and they ducked back after warnings from police officers.

Mauk said the disaster-area designation was imposed under an emergency provision of state law allowing the use of police power to keep unauthorized persons out of the district.

He said the action was taken because of the possibility of further aftershocks, to keep sightseers away and to allow building owners time to hire structural engineers for more extensive inspections.

Some merchants complained about the move, while others preferred to remain cautious only a day after the city was rocked by the 5.5 aftershock.

Major Cracks

“If we lose customers due to fear, we may lose them forever,” lamented Warren Lee, whose greeting card store was declared unsafe.

The Salvation Army’s Whittier Corps Building was ordered condemned after it sustained major cracks in the roof and walls as well as substantial shifting in the walls, ceilings and support beams in Thursday’s temblor and Sunday’s aftershock.

Because of damage to the building, which had been used by the agency as a shelter and feeding center, quake victims will be housed at an alternate site nearby. Three emergency canteens are also delivering food to other shelters in the area, Salvation Army Lt. Arnold Hassler said.

Fears about the sturdiness of other shelters throughout Los Angeles County have caused scores of jittery quake victims to camp out on lawns and sidewalks, fearing new aftershocks. The Red Cross, which has already spent more than $1 million housing about 1,400 quake victims at eight shelters, said open-air circus tents are being set up in some areas to accommodate those sleeping outside.

“We have tents up outside Belmont High School (in Los Angeles) and also a few in Whittier, near California High School, said agency spokeswoman Angela Tabar.

Frayed Nerves

Despite frayed nerves, hundreds of others were grateful for the indoor shelters. “It’s not home sweet home, but it’s sure better than sleeping out in the weather,” said Debbie Brakeman, who spent the night with her boyfriend and two children at a shelter set up at the Joslyn Adult Recreation Center in Alhambra.

More than 100 refugees slept at the center Sunday night, eating hot meals and showering in stalls outside the gymnasium swimming pool. Brakeman said she knew of people who preferred sleeping on their lawns, but she added: “They’re doing that by choice, but they may get tired of it soon.”

Tabar said the agency opened six new service centers on Monday where caseworkers will work to find long-term housing for those left without homes after the quake and its ensuing aftershocks.

Victims will be provided with food, clothing and medicine and lists of hotels and apartments where shelter can be found. Tabar said that the agency is also providing first month’s rent for those without homes.

“People’s nerves are getting frayed at some of the shelters,” Tabar said. “They need some kind of base where they can feel at home again.”

Belongings in Shelters

Many victims, uneasy about leaving belongings behind in quake-strained apartment houses, have lugged television sets and other equipment to the shelters. Tabar said that the agency discourages victims from bringing too many possessions to the shelters, but will provide aid when they are ready to move out to new surroundings.

In several cities, building inspectors began repeating the exhaustive building surveys that they completed last week to make sure that Sunday’s aftershock had not caused further damage.

In Los Angeles, city Building and Safety inspection teams made second visits to 30 multistory structures that were ordered closed off last week.

“We want to be sure that (the buildings) stay up in case there are further shocks,” Johnson said. He doubted whether any of the buildings--most are in downtown Los Angeles--will be reopened soon.

Music Center Damage

At the county-operated Music Center complex, engineers roamed through auditoriums and hallways to check for structural problems. John Donavent, executive vice president of the center’s operating company, said there was only “minor structural damage.”

Plaster fell from ceilings and cement toppled from the colonnade that encircles the Ahmanson Theater and Mark Taper Forum. Donavent said damage would probably not exceed $100,000.

Damage from the two major tremors has even caused problems for seismologists trying to study their effects. A brick chimney atop the U.S. Geological Survey’s field office in Pasadena was so weakened that it will have to be removed.

“It looks like another aftershock like the other one (Sunday) will bring it down,” said head seismologist Tom Heaton. “We’ll have to take it off.”

The Los Angeles County Fire Department reported responding to almost as many calls after Sunday’s aftershock as it did to the original quake.

Rescues, Fires, Leaks

Battalion Chief Gordon Pearson said fire dispatch centers in the Los Angeles basin and San Gabriel Valley responded to 801 calls on Sunday, compared to 828 the previous Thursday.

Sunday’s calls included 411 rescues, 58 structure fires, 92 gas leaks and 30 reports of downed electrical wires.

In Whittier, as a result of the weekend temblor, “a few more” buildings were added to the list of 30 commercial structures that had been scheduled for demolition because of damage sustained in the earlier quake, said city Emergency Services Coordinator Sonny Morkus.

Morkus added that more than 100 homes have been judged uninhabitable as a result of the quakes and also will have to be destroyed. A total of about 1,200 structures in the city have sustained some amount of damage since last Thursday, he said.

Times staff writers Ashley Dunn, Andrea Estepa, Mary Lou Fulton, Richard Holguin, Jeffrey Miller, Edmund Newton and Mike Ward in Los Angeles, and Leo Wolinsky in Sacramento, contributed to this article.