Slow Relief in Sight : Earthquakes: Victims of last week’s temblors, some homeless, seek aid at disaster center. But they won’t see any money for weeks.

Some had seen their homes badly damaged or rendered uninhabitable. Others suffered business losses.

All were fed up, drained of energy from lack of sleep, preoccupied about the next big jolt and unsure of their futures in what had seemed an ideal mountain enclave.

“This whole hill is in mourning,” said Anne Feenstra, an 82-year-old widow who has lived here for 21 years. “We’re all worn out.”

Feenstra was among more than 100 residents who arrived Tuesday on the first day of business at the Disaster Application Center, one of two such government sites being set up in quake-damaged regions of the San Bernardino Mountains and high desert. Another facility is slated to open today in the gymnasium of Yucca Valley High School.

The centers, which include representatives of federal, state, local and private agencies from the Social Security Administration to the Red Cross, are designed to assist the thousands of area residents who suffered damage during the two strong temblors that shook Southern California on the morning of June 28, and during the aftershocks that followed.

“The idea is to have one central place where everyone can come to find help,” said Andrea Booker, spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is coordinating the effort.

The establishment of the two centers follows President Bush’s declaration of a federal disaster in quake-affected San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Millions of dollars in federal, state and local assistance are expected to pour into the region, including low-interest loans for homeowners and merchants seeking to repair damaged buildings, grants for the homeless and extended unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs as a result of the earthquakes.

The centers will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Disaster victims seeking help may also register by telephone at (800) 462-9029.

Federal aid is considered vital in rebuilding the more than 4,000 residences and businesses damaged by the pair of quakes and ongoing series of aftershocks, which have caused about $92 million in losses in the thinly populated zones.

Meanwhile, water service was being restored on a limited basis Tuesday to about 1,500 households in the Landers area that had been without running water since the earthquake, authorities said. Full water service had already resumed in the Yucca Valley area, where about 4,000 households were without water for almost a week following the temblor.

However, residents of both areas were being cautioned to boil water before consuming it as a precaution against potential contamination.

U.S. disaster officials, sensitive to criticism that they were slow to respond to the Los Angeles riots and other calamities, attempted to put their best image forward Tuesday.

Despite the cheerful demeanor of disaster workers, many residents leaving the center complained that all they had been asked to do was fill out forms.

“All I want them to do is give me a loan on which I’ll pay interest,” said an exasperated Jeanette Nuss, a Big Bear-area resident whose home was badly damaged and left uninhabitable. “They tell us we have to wait. But some of us can’t wait. We have no place to go.”

Authorities say all claims must be verified, delaying the receipt of aid checks. Many residents were told not to expect anything for six to eight weeks.

“Some people think they come in here and we just shell out the dollars,” said Fred Fiasca, the federal manager of the application center. “It doesn’t work that way.”

For Donna Miranda, that was small consolation. She and her two children, 13 and 16, have been living in a tent since the quakes. On Tuesday she was told that emergency housing checks could come within two weeks. She is one of hundreds left homeless, unable to stay with friends or relatives.

“Our tent’s leaking, our blankets are all wet--I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Miranda said as she headed back to her rain-soaked tent. “I’m happy they’re going to be able to do something for me. I’m just sorry it’s going to take so long.”