Red Cross Has Quake Surplus of $6.3 Million

Bay Area relief efforts have been so effective that the Red Cross said Monday that it faces the “tricky question” of what to do with $6.3 million in surplus donations made specifically for earthquake victims.

Chris Garrett of the Northern California chapter of the American Red Cross said the private international relief agency’s normal policy is to roll such surpluses over into a national disaster-relief account,

Garrett, sensitive to the potential public relations problem posed by rerouting the donations, said the agency still may be able to find an earthquake-related use for the money. One use being considered, she said, is to finance long-term housing for the hundreds of homeless people forced out of low-income welfare hotels that were damaged or destroyed in the quake.

A local government task force met again Monday to map ways to use Red Cross aid to help with the homeless problem worsened by the quake. It is expected to submit its suggestions to the Red Cross by the end of the week, Garrett said.

“We also are having to reopen some of the cases,” she added, “as when a home originally yellow-tagged (meaning entry is limited until repairs are made) is reinspected and red-tagged (meaning the house is beyond repair).”

Other victims, she said, are just now coming to the Red Cross for aid after learning how expensive it is to leave their old rent-controlled apartments and relocate to market-rate units that can cost hundreds more each month.

News of the surplus came as the Red Cross announced in Washington that $98 million has been raised nationwide in 1989 for victims of Hurricane Hugo, the Bay Area earthquake and several smaller natural disasters. The agency expects to spend $94 million helping victims of those incidents.

In San Francisco, the Red Cross has received $22.3 million in corporate and public donations specifically for quake relief. Garrett said it expects to spend $16 million in Northern California.