Federal Officials Tour Simi Valley Wreckage, Offer Assurance : Visit: Local victims receive the high-level attention they have sought. Aid center opens at the Reagan library.

Simi Valley earthquake victims on Friday finally got what they had wanted all along--special attention from top disaster relief officials and public acknowledgment that the Northridge quake hurt their city as severely as any other.

“Simi Valley’s like a lot of other areas I’ve been to,” said James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, after touring crippled mobile homes and caved-in stores.

“There’s a lot of damage,” Witt said. “A lot of people’s lives have been disrupted, and a lot of people are very scared and concerned.”

John Emerson, a deputy assistant to President Clinton who toured the city with Witt, said, “It’s as bad as I’ve seen anywhere in my visit throughout Los Angeles. I’m very impressed with how the city has coped.”

Emerson said damage estimates in Ventura County could reach $2 billion to $3 billion, and that more damage will become apparent as time passes and people have time to take stock.

Witt said the opening Friday of a new disaster aid center at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Olsen Road should help process thousands of damage claims for Simi Valley residents.

Rick Bath, the FEMA coordinator at that center, said about 40 people had applied there for aid by late Friday afternoon. The number probably was low because not many people know the place is open, he said.

By Friday morning, the 18 disaster centers and 14 mobile centers around the Southland had accepted 160,000 damage claims, and FEMA had already paid out $27 million in aid, Witt said.

The agency also has added 700 new telephone operators to handle calls from earthquake victims who want to make appointments by phone, Witt said.

As he toured the disaster center at the Sycamore Drive Community Center in Simi Valley, Witt shook hands with aid applicant Maria Freeman, who told him, “We’re part of the earthquake too--it seems like Simi Valley got forgotten.”

“No, Simi Valley has not been forgotten,” Witt assured her.

After Witt chatted briefly and moved on, Freeman said of his visit, “I think that’s really beautiful that he came out and showed interest in us in Simi Valley. We need all the help we can get.”

Witt, Emerson and other FEMA officials also stopped at the Simi Country mobile home park.

There, dozens of homes slumped on the ground at odd angles, shaken off their jacks by the 6.6-magnitude quake.

“We’re trying to get to everyone,” Witt told Evelyn and Ted Malaimare, who stood in front of their mobile home and the pile of cinder blocks that used to support it. “Where are you staying now?”

“At an apartment,” Evelyn Malaimare answered.

Witt told her he was sitting in a FEMA regional office in Pasadena on Thursday when a 4.5-magnitude aftershock rocked the building.

“Were you afraid?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Witt chuckled. “I was.”

As the tour moved on, Ted Malaimare said he faced close to $10,000 in repairs, and his insurance policy carried a $7,500 deductible for earthquake damage.

“It was pretty shaky,” he said of the Jan. 17 quake. “These kinds (of mobile homes) go with the flow, so the thing shook more than a stick house would.”

After viewing other homes and the disaster centers, Witt and his entourage toured the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, then left by helicopter for Los Angeles.

Also on Friday, court officials announced that the East County Courthouse will reopen Monday after workers finish repairing broken windows, plaster damage, ruptured fire sprinklers and other problems there.

Beginning Monday, residents can use the courthouse to pay fines and traffic tickets, request traffic school and appear in court if scheduled, said Vince Ordonez Jr., Ventura County courts assistant executive officer.