EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : FEMA Makes Its Point in Spanish : Assistance: Citizenship and immigration status are irrelevant for virtually all quake relief, the federal agency says.

Jose Monge wants to get a message out: Emergency quake assistance is available for all eligible residents who suffered losses in last week’s temblor--regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

“People need to know that we have nothing to do with immigration, and we do speak Spanish,” said Monge, who heads a Federal Emergency Management Agency center opened Saturday in the Pico-Union district, the heart of Los Angeles’ huge Central American community. “The fact that someone is undocumented or isn’t a citizen or doesn’t have a Social Security number doesn’t matter to us.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the FEMA center here--in space borrowed from the Central American Resource Center--has accepted applications for help from almost 800 people, almost all of them poor, Spanish-speaking renters, many illegal immigrants. Most are seeking assistance in relocating from apartments in this densely populated neighborhood.

The extent of damage here doesn’t rival that in the San Fernando Valley, but the quake opened cracks in hundreds of residences, particularly those in older apartment buildings. Scores of people are still sleeping on the streets or in MacArthur Park, too frightened to return to their homes.

While there have been widespread calls in the past year to cut aid to illegal immigrants--and U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, (R-Huntington Beach), has called for denying federal assistance to the undocumented--emergency help from FEMA is still generally available to anyone who otherwise qualifies, authorities said.

The only exception, said Brett Hansard, a FEMA spokesman, is Disaster Unemployment Assistance, designed to offset loss of work. Only legal residents qualify for that benefit.

The application facility in Pico-Union is one of 13 FEMA mobile centers throughout the Los Angeles area, complementing the 16 fixed facilities in operation as of Wednesday. However, demand at the Pico-Union site has been so great, Monge said, that authorities plan to keep the office at 660 S. Bonnie Brae St. operating until at least Friday. The site is open from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m.

The Pico-Union office, like other facilities regionwide, is essentially an application center; no aid is dispensed on site. Inspectors are scheduled to visit claimants’ residences within days to verify damage. Authorities then determine if applicants are eligible for help.

Among other emergency assistance programs, the government offers three months of free rent for those who qualify. That aid can be extended up to 18 months.

Monge and nine other Spanish-speaking staffers were flown from Puerto Rico last week. Once Pico-Union is served, Monge said, he and his colleagues will likely be deployed to another area, possibly the Valley, where there also is a pressing need for Spanish speakers. His team is routinely deployed to disaster zones nationwide where many victims speak Spanish.

In Pico-Union, FEMA took care to reassure a community jittery about immigration enforcement efforts. For instance, Monge declined a police offer to post two officers outside the center full time.

“We don’t want to scare people,” said Monge. “We’d like people to feel like they were walking into a church.”

Many of those seeking aid said they were simply afraid to return to their apartments--sometimes despite assurances from city inspectors that the residences are safe. Despite such findings by local inspectors, Monge said residents may still qualify for emergency relocation assistance if FEMA inspectors reach the opposite conclusion.