Quake Disaster Declared : Emergency: Action by governor opens the way for homeowners and businesses to get low-interest loans to repair damage.

A week after the Sierra Madre earthquake wreaked an estimated $33.5 million in damage to 2,300 homes and businesses, Gov. Pete Wilson declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County on Friday, paving the way for homeowners and businesses to obtain low-interest state loans to repair quake damage.

Homeowners and property-owners in the five hardest-hit San Gabriel Valley communities--Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Monrovia, Pasadena and Altadena--many facing repair bills of $10,000 or more, offered grudging thanks for what some perceived as a belated action.

“It’s about time,” said Pasadena Mayor Jess Hughston. “We need it and I’m glad. But he (Wilson) took too long.”

“Everybody is angry about this delay business,” said Pat Conroy, 39, whose Sierra Madre house was moved two inches off its foundation during the magnitude 5.8 quake. “We’re not looking for a handout, just some assistance.”

Some state officials conceded that the governor’s declaration was unusually slow in coming. In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian declared a state of emergency within 36 hours of the Whittier Narrows earthquake. In 1989, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, acting in Deukmejian’s absence, declared a state of emergency within 24 hours of the Loma Prieta earthquake.

But the June 28 quake was less “telegenic” than the earlier disasters, said Richard Andrews, newly appointed director of the state Office of Emergency Services, during a visit to the area on Friday.

Referring to the Loma Prieta quake, he said: “It was obvious to anyone watching the World Series that it was a major quake. Here in the San Gabriel Valley the damage was clearly much more subtle.” However, Andrews defended the timing of the governor’s declaration, saying it had taken a full week to gather adequate information on the scope of the quake’s damage.

The declaration also will provide an unspecified amount of state funds for repairs to public facilities. Before it was announced, there were fears that Wilson would sacrifice the needs of earthquake victims to budget exigencies.

“You can make all the excuses you want--the state budget crisis--but I don’t think there’s an excuse,” said Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos), one of three state legislators who toured stricken neighborhoods Friday before Wilson announced the declaration.

Assemblyman Richard Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) also grumbled about Wilson’s slow response. “Do you do earthquake damage proclamations on the basis of body counts?” he asked early Friday. “Come on. You do it because people’s lives have been truly disrupted.”

Citing the extent of the damage, Wilson said the declaration “will help residents rebuild their homes, help businesses get back on their feet and ease the burden on local agencies.”

As state officials grappled with the aftermath of the Sierra Madre quake, a temblor centered near Castaic startled residents from Anaheim to Ventura Friday. Caltech seismologists said the 4.0 quake, which struck at 10:41 a.m., was unrelated to the Sierra Madre quake.

“It’s closer to the aftershock zone of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake,” said seismologist Loraine Hwang, referring to the area around the 6.5 Sylmar quake. But seismologists could not say with certainty which fault Friday’s quake was related to.

There were no reported injuries or damage. The epicenter was about 49 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Two northbound lanes of the Golden State Freeway were shut down in the Grapevine pass area north of Santa Clarita after Caltrans workers found a five-inch-high bump in the pavement, said Jim Parsons, Caltrans superintendent for the Lebec area.

The location, about 5 miles south of the Gorman exit at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, is just south of an area where the San Andreas and several other faults cross the interstate, and about 23 miles northwest of the epicenter of Friday’s earthquake.

The bump resulted when two 15-foot slabs of the freeway “butted together and heaved up into the air,” Parsons said.

“It could be heat related or it could be earthquake related,” he said. “We’re not sure, but right now I think it’s probably because of the earthquake. We’ve seen it go over a 100 degrees many times here before, and we’ve never had those kinds of heat problems here.”

Parsons said the bump was discovered at about 4 p.m. when “I rode over it on my way home.” He said road repairs would be completed by this morning.

State housing officials said loan applications for victims of the June 28 quake would not be distributed for at least a week.

The California Natural Disaster Assistance Program offers loans at 3% interest, with payments deferred for up to 30 years. But the state money must be “the funding source of last resort,” said Travis Pitts, deputy director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the 2-year-old program.

He said that the state was awaiting possible action by the federal government, which might also offer loans through the Small Business Administration and grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

To qualify for state loans, homeowners must have been rejected for financing from banks or other private lending institutions, Pitts added.

According to the latest assessments, the earthquake’s total damage bill amounts to $33.5 million.

Of that, more than $15 million involves damage to more than 1,600 homes, including 13 that were destroyed and 58 that incurred major structural damage. Almost 500 businesses suffered $11 million in damage, and public buildings and facilities belonging to nonprofit organizations incurred more than $7 million in damage.

One of about 50 people who went to Sierra Madre City Hall Friday to complain about a lack of state help was Bill Treder, 45, who had held a sign at the city’s Fourth of July parade pleading for help.

Wilson’s declaration will “put a lot of people’s minds at rest,” said Treder, whose four-bedroom house suffered an estimated $70,000 in damage. “One set of our concerns is gone now. But now let’s get the money into the hands of the people that need it.”

Ann Rittenhouse, another Sierra Madre resident, contended that the damage had been underreported. She said she lives on a cul-de-sac of five houses, each of which suffered about $50,000 in damage. “I don’t think we’re on anybody’s list yet,” she said.

Times staff writer Vicki Torres contributed to this story.

Earthquake Aid Gov. Pete Wilson’s declaration of a state of emergency means that owners of homes and businesses damaged in the June 28 earthquake may qualify for low-interest state loans.

*During the next week, state officials will be setting up disaster assistance offices for loan applicants throughout the western San Gabriel Valley. Local city halls can provide informationon the location and hours of the state assistance sites. *State officials are awaiting possible federal action on the quake. If a federal state of emergency is declared, additional assistance through the Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency may become available. *officials advise keeping photographic and videotape evidence of all earthquake damage.