Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Officials Expect Disaster Declaration : Recovery: Injuries rise to 800 in Ventura County. Damage estimates are at least $400 million. And many businesses may not be able to weather the catastrophe.

Damage estimates rose to at least $400 million and injury totals climbed to 800 on Tuesday as the full magnitude of Ventura County’s worst earthquake in recent history began to emerge.

Officials said they expected the county to soon join the San Fernando Valley, where Monday’s 6.6-magnitude Northridge temblor was centered, as a federal disaster area.

“There has never been (a disaster) that affected this county so severely and so immediately as this earthquake,” said Sheriff Larry Carpenter, whose department is directing emergency services.

And recovery is going to be difficult, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Oscar Fuller.

“A lot of people’s homes are ruined, a lot of jobs are up in the air and a lot of businesses that were already struggling may not survive,” he said.

Of the 800 injuries, only about two dozen were serious, hospitals reported. But a 60-year-old Simi Valley man died of a heart attack shortly after the earthquake.

The historic railroad town of Fillmore suffered at least $200 million in losses, because dozens of aging masonry shops downtown collapsed, and between 600 and 1,000 houses were damaged, the Sheriff’s Department estimated.

But it was in the newer east county communities of Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark that the estimates of devastation rose most sharply.

“There’s significant structural damage that we’re just beginning to see right now,” said Mike Sedell, assistant city manager in Simi Valley. “The damage here could possibly be in excess of $200 million.”

In all, perhaps 1,000 businesses were damaged in Simi Valley, and hundreds of homes also had damaged foundations, cracked walls, twisted beams and broken windows, Sedell said.

The Simi Valley Courthouse, library and City Hall all had major water damage, and structural damage at Simi Valley High School was so severe that officials said they could not guess when students might be able to return.

The roof collapsed at the Thousand Oaks Library.

“It is heartbreaking,” City Councilwoman Elois Zeanah said. “Our library is one of the greatest resources we have.”

City officials said the main library may not reopen for months. Zeanah said many books will be transferred to the Newbury Park branch, which remained open Tuesday.

Also in Thousand Oaks, a Robinsons-May store at The Oaks mall was damaged. Dozens of houses in the affluent Sunset Hills subdivision of Thousand Oaks were damaged as bricks crumbled off chimneys or entire chimneys pulled away from homes. Many homes have huge cracks in the stucco that run from ceiling to floor both inside and outside.

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“It’s a good thing we were stumbling when we tried to come down the stairs. If we had made it out, we would have been under this rubble,” resident Phil McGrath said Tuesday, pointing to a pile of bricks that fell from a pillar.

The Moorpark College library and gymnasium suffered enough damage that the facilities must undergo extensive repair and possibly reconstruction, said college President James Walker.

He said classes will begin today, after only a one-day delay.

“We want to get kids who were late registering enrolled tomorrow,” he said. “The longer you wait, the more students you lose.”

Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks sustained only minor damage and classes beginning the spring semester were held Tuesday.

Meanwhile, emergency officials said about 450 people were still housed at shelters in Fillmore and Simi Valley. But the number of injured residents at county hospital emergency rooms slowed to a trickle, climbing from 725 to about 800 by Tuesday.

Some east county stores were still rationing food and water on Tuesday.

Even as officials began their detailed injury and damage assessments, the county was getting back on its feet.

Electric power was restored in Fillmore and Piru by Tuesday morning. And by late afternoon, Simi Valley had regained all electrical power and about 90% of its water supply. Only the far eastern end of the city still had no water later in the afternoon.

All east county school districts were closed for the day, as were those in Fillmore and the Ocean View district in the Oxnard Plain.

But in the western county, where damage was sparse, most students were at their desks and teachers were trying to reduce the trauma of a day and a night of shaking from hundreds of continuing aftershocks.

Gearing up for months of gridlock caused by eight damaged freeways in the Los Angeles Basin, Ventura County transportation officials said they anticipated a dramatic increase in ridership on the Metrolink train route from Moorpark and Simi Valley to downtown Los Angeles.

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None of the commuter trains ran Tuesday because a freight train hauling toxic materials was derailed by the temblor and blocked the track. But Mary Travis, manager of the county’s transit programs, said she expected the track to be clear by this morning or tomorrow--and the number of Ventura County riders to skyrocket from the current 600 a day.

“It’s going to cause a major change in a lot of people’s commuting patterns for months to come,” she said.

If the tracks are clear, four rush-hour trains will begin running this morning at 5:15 from Moorpark and 5:28 from Simi. Three more departures follow at intervals of about 45 minutes. Cost is $12 round trip from Moorpark and $10 from Simi Valley. For information, call 800-438-1112 or 800-371-5465.

Julie Bridges, the county’s assistant administrator of emergency medical services, said the earthquake proved how vital it is that the county maintain its network of community hospitals.

Care at Santa Paula Hospital and Simi Valley Hospital, both of which had experienced financial problems, saved lives, she said.

“I can’t tell you how valuable it was that these two somewhat remote areas had these services,” she said.

Meanwhile, county emergency officials said agency responses to the earthquake were as good as could be expected.

Within 45 minutes of the quake, Ventura County and the cities of Fillmore and Simi Valley activated highly detailed disaster response plans. Command centers were set up at Fillmore City Hall, the old county courthouse in Simi Valley and at sheriff’s stations in Ventura and in Thousand Oaks.

Oxnard and Ventura briefly set up command centers, which were shut down because damage was minimal.

Fillmore officials responded the quickest, arriving at their command center at City Hall within 15 minutes of the quake. They were joined by about 30 members of the Fillmore Citizens’ Patrol.

Fillmore officials said a disaster drill in November that simulated a break in the Piru Dam helped speed their response and informed residents that San Cayetano Elementary School would be the main shelter. About 200 residents had gathered on the school’s lawn by daylight, sitting on green cots and wrapping themselves in blankets.

“People knew to come here right away,” said Bob Buckles, a Fillmore city employee who planned the emergency drill and helped distribute blankets, cots and medical supplies at the school Monday.

Wendy Haddock, assistant director of the sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, said a county drill last fall highlighted the vulnerability of buildings in Fillmore with unreinforced masonry.

“It wasn’t any surprise that Fillmore was going to have some problems. It was kind of a surprise that Simi Valley did because their buildings are fairly new,” she said.

Radio difficulties and a loss of some telephone lines made early communications among agencies chaotic. Ham operators throughout Ventura County provided early damage assessments, zeroing in on Fillmore and Simi Valley as the hardest hit.

Because of an overwhelming number of calls and radio difficulties, the County Fire Department decentralized its dispatching system. Instead of dispatchers telling firefighters where to go, battalion chiefs in each area prioritized the calls.

County firefighters responded to 220 emergencies within hours of the earthquake, Assistant Chief Dick Perry said.