Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Valley Slowly Regains Its Balance : Recovery: Positive signs show residents are getting back on their feet. Victims in tent cities are dwindling, while the number seeking assistance levels off.

Even as government officials Monday increased the cost of the Northridge quake, and victims still grappled with federal aid problems, optimistic signs appeared indicating that the San Fernando Valley was slowly beginning to return to normal.

The Los Angeles Police Department canceled full emergency mobilization, with its 12-hour workdays, and returned to eight-hour shifts. Detectives went back to the routine business of solving crimes Monday.

The number of quake victims seeking federal financial assistance appeared to have leveled off, and tent cities set up to house them were becoming emptier by the hour, state and federal disaster officials said.

“Residents have determined they would rather be somewhere else,” said Mike Allen, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “They want to get back home, and if that isn’t possible, better accommodations are available at shelters and elsewhere.”

Still, some quake victims continued expressing complaints over government aid.

Cal State Northridge student Jose Vela buttonholed FEMA Director James Lee Witt on Monday as Witt toured the Red Cross’ new “super service center” in Northridge. Visibly anxious, Vela said he was unable to find a landlord willing to accept the temporary housing voucher that he received from the U. S. Housing and Urban Development Department.

“I haven’t found anything,” Vela told the head of the nation’s disaster response agency. “They won’t accept the certificates.”

Witt, clad in jeans and cowboy boots, told Vela that he would speak with HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros about the problem.

In an interview, the FEMA director said he and Cisneros already are aware of potential problems with uncooperative apartment owners, but he did not know if the problem is widespread.

“Some of them are” accepting the certificates, Witt said. “I don’t know if all of them are.”

Witt contended, however, that the successes in the governmental response to the nation’s costliest disaster have far outweighed the failures. “I’m not saying we didn’t have problems early,” Witt said, “but we have acted quickly to fix them.”

Indeed, as he made his way through the vast white tent housing the Red Cross super center at the corner of Tampa Avenue and Plummer Street, Witt was met by many who were glad to have the government’s help.

“Everybody from FEMA has been incredible,” Ken Field, a disabled 40-year-old whose Canoga Park home was nearly destroyed, told Witt.

At an impromptu news conference, Witt announced that well over 210,000 applications for disaster relief were processed in the first 10 days after the Northridge earthquake--equaling the number of those applying for aid in the first six months after Hurricane Andrew, the previous most costly American disaster.

“This is a very large disaster,” Witt said. “And every time there’s an aftershock, we find there’s a little more damage.”

As aftershocks and damage reports continue, the Administration is boosting its request for federal aid to $8.6 billion, surpassing the $8.5 billion spent jointly on aid for Hurricane Andrew in Florida, Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii and Typhoon Omar. Last summer’s Midwest floods cost about $4.7 billion.

Witt said FEMA already has cut $59 million worth of checks to help quake victims with housing and other assistance. But still, he acknowledged, there are many others just now coming forward to ask for help.

In fact, faced with still-rising damage estimates, the Clinton Administration plans to ask Congress for an additional $2 billion in housing, small business and other federal aid for victims of the Northridge earthquake--including another $1.2 billion for FEMA, Administration officials said Monday.

As much as $1 billion of that could go toward paying for the rapidly growing costs of the Jan. 17 quake, which killed 61 people and produced damage that may total $30 billion, administration and congressional officials said.

The numbers of those seeking federal assistance may soon start to decline, Witt said, because “we’re noticing our applications are starting to peak.”

In other developments Monday:

* The first contract for reconstruction of damaged freeway bridges was let for $14.8 million, and officials predicted the work on the Golden State Freeway in the Gavin Canyon area would be completed by early June.

* Richard Andrews, director of the state Office of Emergency Services, said 208,844 people have applied for temporary rental assistance, and FEMA has responded by mailing 12,831 checks totaling $39,398,801. More than 7,300 applicants have applied for Small Business Administration loans, and $16,779,800 has been disbursed. And 112,783 applicants have asked for emergency food stamps, and the government has issued $25,477,295 worth already, Andrews said.

* Fourteen schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District reopened after two weeks of structural inspections. At least 21 quake-damaged schools in the sprawling district remain closed, but officials said some of those campuses will reopen later this week.

* City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee, estimated that the city will lose at least $33 million in revenue as a result of the quake.

The councilman said utility tax revenues will drop because of power outages, closed businesses and destroyed homes. Property taxes will drop because of reduced property values. Municipal Court fines will dip because police officers--diverted to other duties--are not writing as many traffic tickets.

In addition, he said, damage to retail businesses will reduce the city’s share of sales taxes, business taxes will drop accordingly and hesitancy in purchasing real estate will trim documentary transfer tax revenues.

“Even before the earthquake, we were facing an approximately $150-million shortfall for the 1994-95 fiscal year,” Yaroslavsky said. “With an additional $33-million loss, we are looking at a very serious money problem.”

* Lucy Jones, a seismologist for the U. S. Geological Survey, said the area was averaging two or three aftershocks of magnitude 3.0 or greater a day--compared to 150 on the day of the quake. She predicted that the aftershocks would continue to taper off in frequency and strength, although warning that there could be another 5.0 in coming weeks.

The Los Angeles Building and Safety Department said 43,449 structures had been inspected by midday Monday, with a total of 26,920 dwelling units declared unsafe for occupancy. The Red Cross said 4,177 people were still being housed in 30 indoor shelters and an additional 518 were camping in tents pitched outside the shelters.

The Salvation Army sheltered 492 indoors in one shelter and an additional 382 in two tent camps erected by the National Guard.

The Los Angeles Police Department, confronted with the problem of trying to keep people out of buildings that have been declared unsafe, announced that it has drafted a policy for arresting anyone who persists in repeatedly returning to those structures.

But detectives for the first time were returning to solving a backlog of cases put on hold during the quake, and patrol officers once again were responding to more than just life-threatening calls, as mandated under the disaster mobilization.

“Now we’re returning to business as usual,” said Lt. Bob Warren, acting head of detectives in West Valley Division, where much of the quake damage occurred.

In the Red Cross centers and even in the schools, many were struggling to gain some semblance of normalcy in their lives.

At the Red Cross super center--so called because it provides up to four times as many claim processors as other centers--workers were still busy providing victims with vouchers to buy food, clothing, health and medical aid, temporary housing and other necessities.

By giving them vouchers that they can use wherever they choose, “people can take control of their own lives,” said Red Cross spokesman Randy Ackley. “It gets them back into a routine. It helps the local merchants too.”

Merchants can redeem the vouchers through the Red Cross. Ackley said the relief agency expects to spend at least $31.4 million to help quake victims. The super center, which was opened Saturday to alleviate overcrowding at other Red Cross centers, was set up to handle as many as 1,000 earthquake victims per day.

By midafternoon Monday, it had processed 446 people seeking vouchers to cover rent, food, clothing and even appliances lost in the quake. “It’s not been overwhelming,” said Jean Reynolds, a volunteer from Orange County, “but it’s been steadily busy.”

Throughout the Valley, children returned to school. Students at Canoga Park Elementary School met with a psychologist to discuss their fears.

“Did anyone have animals that went real weird?” asked psychologist Robert Butterworth.

“My hamster hid under his hay,” said one youngster.

“The hamster was smart,” said the psychologist. “He knew enough to get under something.”

Life for commuters continued to be a challenge, but there were signs that struggle was easing up a bit too. Metrolink officials said a new station on the Los Angeles-to-Lancaster line opened at Acton as scheduled Monday, with another new station expected to open in Santa Clarita this weekend.

Richard Stanger, Metrolink’s executive director, said station platforms in Sylmar and Burbank have been lengthened to accommodate the longer trains that have run since the quake.

According to the latest figures, the death toll remained at 61. A total of 7,757 have been treated and released from hospitals, with another 1,496 hospitalized.

In quake-affected areas, about 42,000 buildings have been inspected. Of those, 18,900 have been deemed inhabitable, 6,300 partially inhabitable and 2,700 uninhabitable, according to the state Office of Emergency Services. But many remain to be inspected. FEMA officials estimate 45,319 residences were damaged or destroyed.

Times staff writers Eric Malnic, Jim Newton and John Dart contributed to this story.