Federal Aid Checks Sent to Quake Victims

The first federal assistance checks for victims of the devastating Oct. 1 earthquake were mailed Friday to those whose homes were severely damaged by the 6.1-magnitude temblor, disaster officials said.

The federal funds, meant to cover immediate home repairs and rent for temporary housing, were released six days after applications for aid began pouring into Southern California relief centers--beating the predicted 2 1/2-week turnaround time. Checks will continue to be sent from a Southern California processing facility as more grant applications are approved, officials said.

“It’s one of the fastest operations we’ve had so far,” said Verne Paule, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The financial boost came as residents of southeast Los Angeles County felt a rumbling reminder of the quake--a 3.0 aftershock early Friday that shook a few residents awake but caused no substantial damage.

One of more than 300 aftershocks to jolt the area since Oct. 1, the quake was centered two miles southeast of the epicenter of the first temblor. The latest quake struck at 1:11 a.m. in an area two miles northwest of Montebello and seven miles southeast of Pasadena, Caltech spokeswoman Amy Branch said.

On the financial front, federal officials credited a simplified, computerized assistance system for the hasty mailing of housing checks. Registration forms for victims have been streamlined from several pages to a single page, and “the process has been speeded up,” said Charles Raudebaugh, another Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman.

Federal guidelines allow a grant of up to $5,000 per family to help make a home habitable after a disaster. A separate grant gives victims money for up to three months of temporary rental housing. The size of that payment is determined by a sliding scale of average rents in the affected communities.

Officials could not say how many checks were sent out Friday, but Raudebaugh said 3,614 people have applied for housing relief at seven local disaster centers.

Small Business Administration loans, which can pay for the large-scale repair or rebuilding of damaged homes and businesses, will take longer to process because more documentation is required, he said.

Overall, Raudebaugh said, 5,659 people had applied by Friday for various forms of relief, and another 2,353 people were scheduled for relief interviews in the near future.

Red Cross officials said Friday that 568 people remain in emergency shelters, down from the peak of 2,443 immediately after the massive quake.

The quake and its aftershocks--the largest hit Oct. 4 and was measured at 5.5--have caused an estimated $213 million in property damage.