BAY AREA QUAKE : L.A. Residents Pour Blood, Cash, Selves Into Relief Effort

Planeloads and carfuls of sniffing dogs, type “O” blood, building inspectors and fire experts streamed from Los Angeles to quake-ravaged Northern California on Wednesday in an explosion of local support from businesses, city leaders, churches and everyday people.

“Money is most needed at this time,” not food or clothes, said Maria L. Cowell, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities in the Los Angeles archdiocese, summing up what all charities in the city said Wednesday.

Taking heed, a woman appeared at the American Red Cross in Canoga Park with 30 pounds of pennies bulging from bags.

“She came in and said, ‘I’d like to give this to the disaster victims,’ ” said Julia Montez, the center’s coordinator. They were still counting pennies by Wednesday afternoon, Montez said.

That anonymous Good Samaritan was outdone--at least in sheer volume--by General Motors Corp. A spokesman said in Los Angeles that GM will give $500,000 to the American Red Cross and match any contributions of its workers and retirees, up to $6 million.

Catalina Cruises launched four 700-passenger boats for San Francisco to transport thousands of commuters stranded by the collapsed Bay Bridge; a Playa del Rey restaurant called The Shack was giving free meals to anyone donating to the Red Cross, and Home Depot in the City of Industry launched a drive to fill two 18-wheelers with goods for Northern California.

Brad Saltzman, manager of the Paradise Beach Club Bar and Grill in Century City Shopping Center organized a campaign to raise $5 from every shopping center employee, saying, “After seeing the pictures, something just told me I had to try and help.”

The Red Cross, whose blood supplies were drastically reduced by Hurricane Hugo, put out a call for blood and was swamped by people who jammed a donation center at Vermont Avenue and Olympic Boulevards, creating the longest lines in the memory of Red Cross workers.

Paula Herrera, at Red Cross in Pasadena said: “The public is being terrific. People are scheduling over the next eight days to give blood. We’re fast and furiously giving out P.O. Box numbers” for cash donations.

The outpouring of sympathy took on a Hollywood flair as Universal Studios announced it would close its “Earthquake” ride, in which visitors are treated to a two-minute simulation of an 8.3-magnitude quake, until Friday morning “out of respect and as a sympathetic gesture to the people in the Bay Area,” spokeswoman Joan Bullard said.

Miller Brewing Co. in Irwindale wanted to help Santa Cruz and Watsonville, whose water supplies were contaminated. So employees spent the day filling 72,500 beer bottles--with purified tap water, said spokesman Victor Franco.

Second only to money, the devastated quake region needed people to help with rebuilding. Southern California’s agencies, universities and churches responded in force.

The city sent 32 building inspectors and engineers by military transport to comb through badly damaged Santa Cruz and other cities, to help authorities determine which buildings were unsafe.

Tuesday night, Mayor Tom Bradley also authorized the Fire Department to send a team with a device that can detect faint sounds of survivors under rubble. The team traveled by car because of problems with flights into the area, arriving early Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, Bradley convened a meeting of the Emergency Operations Board deep in the sub-basement of City Hall East, where 40 department chiefs and emergency experts met to respond to the crisis.

“All of our resources stand ready to assist our friends in the north,” Bradley said later, calling upon “each and every person in this region” to help.

City departments were ordered to inventory city warehouses to locate supplies and heavy equipment in case San Francisco or other cities need such help. A load of cameras was already bound for the Bay Area, where they will be used to verify damage for the state Office of Emergency Services.

City officials, many of them shaking off the eerie feeling that San Francisco’s fate could one day hit Los Angeles, said they will look to Northern California as a giant test laboratory of what to do--and perhaps what not to do.

Meanwhile, a team of 15 Naturalization and Immigration Service trainers with their “sniffer” dogs left Long Beach for the Bay Area, where the Belgian Malanois dogs will be used to find people buried in the debris of collapsed structures.

A 22-member team from UCLA, including doctors, campus police and various specialists, arrived Wednesday to help at UC Santa Cruz, just a few miles from the quake’s epicenter.

“Damage at UC Santa Cruz wasn’t as serious as we thought, but their help is still needed,” said spokesman Harlan Lebo.

And the region’s many charities swung into full motion, all asking residents to open their pocketbooks and send help from the Southland.

The Salvation Army sent three mobile units from Los Angeles to Hollister to give hot food to rescuers and victims.

The United Way got “hundreds of calls from people all day today,” and will redirect donor funds and provide family counseling in the Bay Area, said Clarence Brown.

Los Angeles-area Armenian groups, reacting with sympathy for victims of the same kind of disaster that struck their homeland almost a year ago, were among those at the forefront of local efforts.

WHERE TO DONATE

People and groups wanting to help victims of the Northern California earthquake may contact these organizations:

Catholic: National Catholic Disaster Relief Committee, 1319 F St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20004. (202) 639-8400. Locally, 1531 W. 9th St., Los Angeles 90015. Attn: Msgr. Stephen Blaire. Checks should be made to “Archdiocese of Los Angeles” and designated for “San Francisco earthquake relief.”

Church World Service, Attn: California Earthquake Response, PO Box 968, Elkhart, Ind. 46515, or Church World Service, 1401 21st St. (Room 320), Sacramento 95814. (916) 448-5917.

Red Cross: To donate blood, call (213) 739-5290. For financial contributions, (800) 453-9000. Cash can be sent to the American Relief Disaster Fund, PO Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013, earmarked for “San Francisco disaster relief.”

American Jewish World Service, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10104. (212) 468-7383. Cash donations.

Episcopal Church: The Presiding Bishop’s Fund World Relief, The Episcopal Church Center, 815 2nd Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. (800) 334-7626.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Central Treasury Service, 100 Witherspoon, Louisville, Ky. 40202. Checks designated for “Bay Area earthquake relief fund.”

Salvation Army, 900 W. 9th St., Los Angeles 90015, or nearest Salvation Army unit for cash donations. Also needed at Los Angeles office: portable gas generators, cots, blankets, tents, jackets. (213) 627-5571.

Direct Relief International, PO Box 30820, Santa Barbara 93130. (805) 687-3694. Cash to send medical supplies to Santa Cruz.

Operation California/USA, 7615 1/2 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles 90046. (213) 658-8876. Cash; electric generation equipment and water purification and storage equipment from corporate donors.

Church of Scientology in Los Angeles, (4810 Sunset Blvd.), the San Fernando Valley (10335 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood) and Tustin/Orange County (1451 Irvine Blvd.). (213) 666-3424.