NORTH HILLS : Residents Protected Station From Looting

When the quake shattered the windows of the North Hills police substation on Sepulveda Boulevard, neighbors rushed over to protect the computers and video equipment from looters. They guarded the tiny office--where police run youth programs--for nearly seven hours.

Throughout North Hills, people joined together to prevent a natural disaster from becoming a neighborhood full of catastrophes.

Building inspectors and police say the shaker’s damage to North Hills has not been as severe as it was in other communities. As of Saturday, 39 structures had been declared unsafe and 77 had been designated for limited entry.

The Federal Emergency Management Adminstration and the Small Business Administration have set up a joint registration center, open from 3 to 10 p.m., at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration hospital on Plummer Street.

Among the most dramatic quake scenes was at the V.A. hospital. Hardest hit was the building that houses the hospital’s inpatient services, including intensive care and emergency rooms and X-ray labs.

When the quake hit, the building split several inches in two locations, but did not collapse. In the darkness, doctors and nurses rushed to evacuate about 230 patients, many on respirators and intravenous tubes. About 100 patients were evacuated from another building.

The hospital is providing outpatient services through two V.A. mobile health clinics sent from Arizona and Washington. All inpatients are being referred to V.A. medical facilities in Loma Linda, West Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Churches in North Hills continued to provide charitable and spiritual work. At the Calvary Chapel on Parthenia Street, whose cracked facade sported a yellow inspection tag denoting that entry was limited, volunteers passed out food and water to quake victims.