4 in Congress Want World Disaster Unit : Dornan in Group That Saw Armenian Earthquake Damage

As a Californian, Rep. Robert K. Dornan is used to earthquakes.

But he said Wednesday that the impact of seeing firsthand the devastated Armenian town of Leninakan has left him with some chilling images.

“The children who still had parents would usually smile,” he said, “ but the ones who had lost their parents usually wouldn’t smile. I can remember one such girl, who had only one arm and one leg remaining, and she barely managed a smile when I squeezed her hand.”

Dornan, a Garden Grove Republican, returned Wednesday from a two-day tour with Reps. Tony Coelho (D-Merced), David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) and Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.) of the areas hardest hit by the quake last month in Soviet Armenia.

Coelho said Secretary of State George Shultz had proposed the trip as “a humanitarian gesture” by the U.S. government.

“It will take decades to rebuild to where it was,” Dornan said, “but we have now learned how important it is to really study the California earthquake situation. There is something about all of that twisted rubble that is too depressing.”

‘Awesome Force’

Both Dornan and Coelho said they found it difficult to imagine similar destruction occurring in earthquake-prone Southern California, where buildings are built with just such a catastrophe in mind.

However, Dornan said he is now even more conscious of the dangers of a major earthquake and the need for adequate building codes and emergency preparations.

“The results of improper construction are shocking,” he said. “We saw a stack of nine slabs of concrete that used to be a nine-story building. Our buildings are better, but (in a major quake) we would have a great deal of fires.”

Coelho echoed that concern.

“I don’t think we appreciate the awesome force of an earthquake,” he said. “We tend to believe that we can handle anything. But the awesomeness of an earthquake is something even pictures can’t show. When you see it, smell it, hear it, you realize how devastating it is. There are forces stronger than Americans.”

Dornan said the four congressmen on the tour would issue a recommendation to House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) next week calling for a worldwide commission to provide immediate assistance in future disasters.

“We just have to have some coordinating commission for disasters like this,” Dornan said. “Even hours are important when people are crushed under buildings.”

Red Tape Snarled Dogs

The congressmen will suggest that such a commission be set up through the United Nations.

“The United Nations has a high commissioner for refugees,” he said. “We now need a high commissioner for disaster relief.”

In one instance after the Armenian quake, Coelho said, search dogs remained on a U.S. plane for nearly 4 hours until papers required by the United States had been processed.

“That is just absurd,” he said. “Our government took the position during the Armenian quake that we were not going to do anything unless they asked. Every other country said they were going to help unless they object. We need to be able to respond faster.”

Dornan repeatedly talked about the children he saw on his trip--on the streets and in the hospitals.

“You almost feel foolish passing out coloring books and candy among all that agony,” he said, “but it’s all we could think to do. We told them that the American people were praying for them.”

Both Dornan and Coelho said their visit seemed to have an impact on the survivors in Armenia as well.

“It’s all in the eyes,” Dornan said.