Storm Brings More Woes for Tent Refugees

Heavy rain hammered down on 2,500 weary earthquake refugees huddled in Army tents as an intense winter storm moved in from the Pacific on Monday night.

The biting storm, coupled with continuing aftershocks, increased the burden on families driven from their homes and forced to seek shelter in the four makeshift encampments in San Fernando Valley parks.

“At this point, there’s no other place for them to go,” said Salvation Army Maj. Darvin Carpenter. “I wish I could tell you it won’t be messy, but it will.”

The forecast was not good.

Locally heavy showers were expected through the night, with up to an inch of rain predicted in the campsite areas by dawn today. The National Weather Service warned that flash-flooding could occur below some of the hillsides stripped of vegetation during last fall’s devastating fires.

No flooding was expected in the refugee camps, but showers, puddling and mud were beginning to make an already difficult existence even drearier. The 165 tents have no floors, and many of the people in them--spurning cots offered by relief officials--were bedded down on the ground, with only a thin sheet of plastic or cardboard to protect them from the increasingly soggy earth.

“Some people don’t want anything but the ground,” Carpenter said. “It’s going to be difficult if it rains long and hard.”

Still fearing the possibility of another large tremor, many of those braving the cold, wet weather Monday night had chosen to remain outdoors, even though their homes had been declared safe for occupancy.

As the rain continued to pour down in the darkness, most of the refugees stayed inside the tents, which National Guardsmen said should provide adequate protection from the rain above, if not from seepage from below.

“These tents are built for war, so they can handle a little L.A. rain,” said Guard Lt. Kasten Jordan.

By 10 p.m., the only sounds at the little encampment at West Valley Park in Reseda were the drumming of the rain and the soft crying of a few children. The only light to be seen was the occasional glow of a flashlight.

There were at least five aftershocks of 3.0 or greater magnitude Monday, strong enough to be felt and to prolong concerns about further damage. The strongest was a 3.3 temblor at 10:16 a.m., centered in the same general area as the 6.6 quake.

More than 2,500 aftershocks had been recorded by noon Monday, according to officials from Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey. The two largest were between magnitude 5.0 and 5.6, one last Monday and one Wednesday. Thirty-five registered between 4.0 and 4.9 on the seismographs at Caltech. Two hundred seventy-two registered between 3.0 and 3.9.

“The aftershocks are following a very normal pattern for Californian earthquakes and are decaying (decreasing in intensity and frequency) as expected,” according to a Caltech statement. “Compared to average sequence, the Northridge aftershocks are a bit more energetic than average but are also decaying a bit more quickly than average.”

The probability of magnitude 5 aftershocks in the next week is about one in five, the statement added.

Figures released by the state Office of Emergency Services on Monday set the confirmed death toll from the quake at 57, two more than the total provided Monday. Whether the increase came from new fatalities or from a recompilation of earlier figures was not made clear. The state said 56 died in Los Angeles County and one died in San Bernardino County.

State officials said that 1,241 people were hospitalized with quake-related injuries in Los Angeles County and another 7,192 were treated for injuries and released. In Ventura County, 725 people were treated for injuries from the quake.

David Langness, a spokesman for the Hospital Council of Southern California, said that as the aftershocks continue, people with symptoms of stress, anxiety and shock keep showing up at hospitals.

“Many patients are coming into emergency rooms with ‘aftershock shock,’ ” Langness said. “Hospitals keep treating a mounting stream of post-traumatic stress disorder patients.”

Stress problems were reported in some of the emergency encampments for earthquake refugees. The Salvation Army said a woman who fainted at Lanark Park in Canoga Park explained later that she had lost two brothers in an earthquake in El Salvador.

In Washington, President Clinton urged those providing help “to keep your chins up and keep working,” and he said he would do what he could to speed up action on his request for what is expected to be more than $5 billion in federal aid.

“I am pleased with the work you’ve done,” the President told Cabinet members and other federal officials in Los Angeles during a phone call Monday morning.

Clinton plans to announce today that he will waive a federal law requiring state and local governments to pick up 25% of the cost of repairing damage from natural disasters to public facilities such as schools, roads and water mains. Under the waiver, the federal government would pick up 90% of those costs.

Gov. Pete Wilson has asked the federal government to pick up 100% of the costs, but that would require a special act of Congress, and the Administration is unlikely to support the proposal.

Wilson declared a state of emergency in Orange County on Monday, making residents and local governments eligible for state assistance and a possible federal disaster declaration. Aside from minor damage in Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton and La Palma, the only structure to suffer severe damage was Anaheim Stadium, where the 17-ton scoreboard collapsed. City officials have estimated damage to the stadium at $3 million to $4 million.

White House budget officials plan to brief members of the California congressional delegation this morning on the earthquake-relief package, allowing Clinton to announce his plans during his nationally televised State of the Union speech tonight.

The exact dollar amount of the aid package remains in doubt as damage estimates continue to change. Administration officials expect that the numbers probably will continue to mount as Congress works on the legislation.

Looking toward the pending fight in Washington for the aid package, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena said the Administration will try to bring heads of congressional appropriation committees to Los Angeles to assess the needs firsthand. Already, Pena said, there is some reticence in the Congress that must be confronted.

Pena, who has been here since a few hours after the original quake, noted that the federal government is still facing requests for aid from eight Midwestern states affected by last year’s severe flooding of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

“You know that with the Midwest floods, (passage of $4 billion of quake aid to Los Angeles) is not going to be a given,” Pena said. “It’s really hard, if you’re not here, to understand what’s happened here. If you’re from another state and you’re in Washington, and you haven’t been here (to see) the damage, it’s just, ‘The- big- state- of- California- and- why- do- they- really- need- the- federal- government’s- help’ kind of attitude.”

The transportation secretary said California’s fight for federal funding could be enhanced by quick imposition of a statewide tax to help pay for recovery.

“What impresses me, as someone (based in Washington), is to see local effort,” Pena said. “When people say, ‘We’re willing to pay our fair share, but we need your help; we want you to be our partner,’ I think there is a more receptive ear. . . . I think that would be a positive message to the Congress.”

For the city of Los Angeles, building inspections continued to be one of the biggest tasks. City Building and Safety officials said that by Monday morning, they had inspected about 10,000 structures. Of those, 4,322 had been declared at least partially unsafe for occupancy. The unsafe structures include 14,576 dwelling units, officials said.

Officials said that by Monday afternoon, 63,927 applications for assistance had been received by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local agencies and housing vouchers had been issued to 2,500 people.

That compares with the 9,798 applications received in the first seven days after the 1992 Loma Prieta quake in the Bay Area.

Applications were being accepted at 15 centers across the city, with a 16th center scheduled to open today.

Los Angeles Police Department officials said Monday they will begin scaling back their department-wide mobilization over the next day or so, focusing attention on the worst-hit areas while allowing some officers to return to normal schedules.

Some National Guard troops also will begin moving out of the city, emergency coordinators said, though many will be replaced by other troops until life here begins to return to normal.

Officials said that by Monday morning, electrical power had been restored for all but a handful of residents, and those residents can have their power turned on if they call the Department of Water and Power to report the problem, said Dan Waters, the DWP’s general manager.

Nearly all of the city’s residents have running water again. All of it is safe for drinking except in the Santa Monica Mountains, Pacific Palisades and in the West San Fernando Valley, where residents are advised to continue boiling drinking water. It could be several more days before officials can vouch for the water quality in those areas, Waters said.

The Southern California Gas. Co. said gas was flowing safely again for about 80,000 customers whose service was interrupted because of the quake, but thousands more were yet to have their service restored.

Working to restore service were about 3,400 gas company employees, along with crews from San Diego Gas and Electric, the Long Beach Gas Department and Southwest Gas, which serves part of San Bernardino County.

Times staff writers Timothy Williams, David Lauter Kenneth Reich, and Matt Lait contributed to this story.