L.A. Quake Lesson Used in Egypt : Safety: In the Cairo disaster, a woman protects herself with information picked up in visit here during desert temblors.

When Hoda Salama traveled from Cairo last June to visit her daughter in the San Fernando Valley, she had no idea she would learn a lesson that could save her life.

Salama, 51, was at the West Hills home of her daughter, Mai Rahimi, when a powerful temblor struck the Yucca Valley. The quake prompted much discussion in the Rahimi household about earthquake safety, and Salama listened with interest. But she never dreamed that she would ever need to practice what she had learned. In Cairo, after all, earthquakes are rare.

On Monday, after a deadly earthquake rolled through Egypt’s capital city, Rahimi recalled that discussion as she tried in vain to reach her mother by telephone. Like many of the 100,000 Egyptian immigrants who live in the Los Angeles area, Rahimi dialed for hours with no success.

When she finally got through, however, she learned that her mother had put her earthquake experience to good use. During the 5.9 jolt that killed more than 450 people and left as many as 10,000 injured, Salama had safely braced herself in a doorway. And in the quake’s aftermath she was helping her neighbors prepare for something most had never before experienced: aftershocks.

“She’s been calming people,” Rahimi’s husband, Hadi, said Wednesday of his mother-in-law. Because Salama had been in quake territory so recently, he said, “she was used to it, in a way.”

Two days after Egypt’s powerful quake--and more than 8,000 miles from its epicenter--many Southern California residents who have relatives in Cairo continued to reel from emotional shock waves. First, they worried about the safety of their family members. Then they grieved for the city--a place, many said, that is both structurally and psychologically unprepared for earthquakes.

“We don’t have earthquakes (in Egypt). We don’t think about them. So, there is tremendous difficulty in coping with them,” said Maher Hathout, a Duarte cardiologist and the chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles. “In the absence of such orientation, the first impulse is to run.”

Sadly, that is what many Cairo residents did. Some were trampled to death in human stampedes. Others were crushed when buildings fell. Cairo, a city of many high-rises, has no seismic construction codes. Even days after the quake, many people who were otherwise unharmed continued to feel dazed, said Hathout, who got his reports from relatives he contacted Tuesday evening.

“Still, they are digging for bodies. Still, there are people unaccounted for. Still, there is that horrible feeling of a mother who doesn’t know where her child is,” Hathout said.

As news accounts and relatives’ descriptions paint a clearer picture of the grim situation, several local groups have organized relief efforts. Hathout’s organization has sent emergency medical supplies to Cairo and is accepting donations at ICSC/Egyptian Earthquake Relief Fund, 434 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles 90020.

Similarly, the American Network for Services and Relief is accepting donations to send to the Egyptian Red Crescent, an affiliate of the Red Cross, at ANSAR/Islamic Relief Fund for Earthquake Victims, 3010 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 217, Los Angeles 90010.

The Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco has also opened a bank account to accept donations. Checks can be made out to Earthquake Victims of Egypt, Bank of America, 2310 Fillmore St., San Francisco 94115.

Religious services to honor the victims are also planned. At 1 p.m. Friday, the Islamic Center of Southern California plans a special prayer for those who died in the earthquake.

In addition, St. Marks Coptic Orthodox Church in Los Angeles, a central gathering place for Egyptian Christians, plans to honor the dead in a Sunday service. Father Markos Hanna will deliver an 8:45 a.m. sermon in English and an 11 a.m. sermon in Arabic. In both, he said, he plans to announce that the church, at 1600 S. Robertson Blvd., is accepting donations to aid quake survivors.

Hanna said money raised will be sent to Cairo to be distributed by Pope Shenouda III, the 117th pope of the Coptic Church. Hanna stressed, however, that aid will be awarded to the most needy, regardless of religion.

“The relief will be sent to help both Muslims and Christians,” Hanna said. “People that need help.”