A Disaster in the Beholder’s Eye : Governor was right to declare an emergency in Sierra Madre quake

Gov. Pete Wilson figured out that a disaster need not leave a total shambles to be worthy of the name.

Wilson declared a state of emergency Friday, meaning loans and tax relief are that much closer for those who bore the selective brunt of last week’s 5.8-temblor, which was centered in the San Gabriel Valley.

As Kaya Pekerol, Pasadena’s fire chief, put it: “It puzzles me how you can go down one side of the street and everything’s fine, and on the other side everything’s devastated.”

We would suggest that in a case like the June 28 quake, disaster is in the eye of the householder. And some householders--who can do nothing about the fact that this was a capricious quake--will suffer less because the governor stepped in.

It’s true that the total cost of shattered glass, toppled chimneys and smashed crockery in the hardest-hit places such as Sierra Madre does not approach the state debt. Fortunately. Still, that quiet town alone counted 150 buildings with structural damage, three of them serious enough perhaps to be demolished.

A number of the homes that will need tens of thousands of dollars of repairs were bought years before Proposition 13 and the housing boom of the 1980s and--on paper--are dwelling places of the well-to-do.

Many such homeowners cannot afford earthquake insurance on the paper value of their houses. Because such policies carry big deductibles, even those who can afford it will pay 10% to 20% of repair costs.

A state insurance policy would have picked up some of that deductible cost, but red tape has delayed the effective date until at least next year.

Sacramento has monumental budget problems and it certainly won’t relish shelling out more for disaster relief. But because the quake was so choosy about the buildings it savaged, the total amount of help looks small--except to those who will benefit.

That works in Wilson’s favor. He was able to declare a bargain-price disaster.