Quake Area Mops Up, Heaves a Sigh of Relief : Temblor: Foothill cities count 30 injuries, millions in damage. Experts say threat of larger quake has lessened.

Communities at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains counted 30 injuries and nearly $14 million in earthquake damage to structures, but residents who spent Thursday sweeping up broken glass and replacing toppled books acknowledged that it could have been worse.

“I think we all know we were fortunate this time around,” said Upland City Councilman Al Canestro.

The 5.5-magnitude quake struck Wednesday afternoon three miles northwest of Upland. It shook down chimneys and brick facades and shattered windows in Upland, Pomona, Claremont, La Verne and Ontario. Felt over a vast sector of Southern California, the rolling quake lasted 15 seconds or more, but did relatively little harm.

In the first 24 hours after the quake, Caltech seismologists recorded 34 significant aftershocks. But the threat of an even larger associated quake had lessened by Thursday, said Lucile Jones of the U.S. Geological Survey.

While safety inspectors fanned out to look for gas leaks and hidden damage Thursday, life returned to normal for most residents and merchants--but not for about 25 residents of a turn-of-the-century Upland apartment building who were left temporarily homeless.

Most of them are poor and can barely afford the $420 a month charged for a two-bedroom apartment. Many speak no English.

“We have no money for the deposit and rent for a new place, and we are too afraid to come back here--even if they let us,” said Carlos Arciniega, 41, who, with other evacuees, spent Wednesday night in motel rooms furnished by the Red Cross. “My girls kept waking up and shouting, ‘Papa! Papa!’ “he said. “What can I do? They are so scared.”

Late Thursday, officials told the tenants they could move back home.

Elsewhere in Upland, joggers ran through the morning fog and schools opened as normal, but with psychologists on hand to help students with their quake fears. Most businesses were also open as usual.

“I opened at 11, just like I have for 19 years,” said Mary Sandberg, 72, owner of the Last Chance consignment shop on 2nd Avenue, as she swept debris from the sidewalk.

Upland building inspectors--aided by inspectors on loan from the cities of Rialto and Montclair--fanned out throughout the commercial area to check on damage reports received through the night.

“We had reports of staircases torn away from apartment buildings, roof damage and one gentleman who said his floor was collapsing under him,” city building chief Don Ramsey said.

Much of the attention was focused on Upland’s historic downtown, where 67 unreinforced masonry buildings dating to the turn of the century already were scheduled for retrofitting to meet state earthquake safety standards. Ramsey said damage there appeared minor and that the worst incident was a fire that destroyed a home.

“We were lucky, very lucky,” said Upland Mayor Bob Nolan, who estimated the earthquake caused $2.8-million damage to his town. “Now it’s a matter of getting things in order and getting back to the business of running the city.”

Pomona Mayor Donna Smith said inspectors estimate that her city suffered about $10 million in damage--lower than the $20 million she had suggested on Wednesday. The city Fire Department said that includes about $2.5 million in damage at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, where a broken water line damaged ceilings and floors. City Hall also was damaged.

The Phillips Mansion, a city historical landmark built in 1875, was declared unsafe because of damage to the brick and wood structure. In all, about 300 structures in Pomona suffered damage, and the City Council planned to meet today to ask the county Board of Supervisors and Gov. George Deukmejian to declare a state of emergency that would make state aid available.

In the mountains above Upland, boulders were still blocking roads Thursday and the harrowing sound of falling rocks could be heard.

On Wednesday night, a rock four or five feet in diameter thundered into Mt. Baldy Village and smashed into the back of a vacant house.

“Everybody (in town) heard it coming in,” said Mt. Baldy Fire Department engineer Bill Buehler.

Alonzo Jimenez II climbed over rocks and waded through waist-deep water to retrieve his bicycle and wallet from a narrow trail in the mountains above Glendora on Thursday. He and his son, Alonzo (Lonnie) Jimenez III, were out riding when they were buried in a rockslide in the minutes after the temblor struck Wednesday.

Their helmets were crushed by the rocks, but they managed to free themselves. The only bad injury was Lonnie’s broken arm.

“It’s luck,” Lonnie said Thursday. “That was the first time I wore a helmet. My dad kept bugging me and bugging me about it until I did.”

A new slide at 11 a.m. Thursday covered a portion of Mt. Baldy Road, which remained closed to all motorists except residents, and will remain so for at least two more days. In addition to the laborious task of clearing boulders from the roadway, crews must shore up the sides of the highway to safeguard against additional landslides, the California Highway Patrol said.

“I’m afraid it’s going to be quite a while before we get that road open,” CHP spokeswoman Vivian Firlein said. “We know the skiers aren’t happy about that, because there’s good skiing up there now. But we can only do our best.”

California 39 was open Thursday as far as Crystal Lake but closed above East Fork Road, which intersects the highway about 38 miles north of Interstate 10, the CHP reported. Angeles Crest Highway, the main route into the mountains, was open.

In Claremont, the estimated $1-million loss discovered Thursday included damage to small businesses along Harvard Avenue. City workers also had to vacate the 60-year-old Jacobsen Building because inspectors found damage there, Assistant City Manager Bridget Distelrath said.

In nearby La Verne, the City Council decided Thursday to cancel the state of emergency it had called after the quake. Damage there was likely to total less than $750,000, although 62 buildings were involved, said Mayor Pro Tem Thomas R. Harvey.

Rep. David Dreier (R-La Verne) toured the area and said he did not think federal assistance would be necessary.

Officials in San Bernardino County said it would take several days before they could attach a dollar amount to the damage, which appeared to be minimal.

“We’re pretty much back to a normal mode here. We came through it pretty much unscathed,” said Al Langworthy, emergency preparedness planner for San Bernardino County.

“The greatest concern we had was the short failure of our 911 system and the total overload of conventional phone lines,” Langworthy said.

Warren reported from San Bernardino County and Roderick from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Irene Chang and Mike Ward contributed to this report.

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