Earthquake: The Long Road Back : County-USC Children’s Unit Closed : Aftermath: Quake damage forces transfer of 60 young patients from Pediatric Pavilion to another building. Fifteen adult patients also are moved and an emergency room is shut down.

Continuing aftershocks from the Northridge earthquake have severely damaged the Pediatric Pavilion at County-USC Hospital, prompting its closure by structural engineers Tuesday afternoon.

By late afternoon, officials were preparing to move the estimated 60 children in the pavilion to the 331-bed Women’s Hospital on the County-USC campus, said public relations director Kristina Balinian.

The pavilion also has 15 adult patients in its communicable diseases unit. All except those with tuberculosis were scheduled to be moved into the main hospital building, Balinian said. The tuberculosis patients were to be transferred to Rancho Los Amigos in Downey.

The emergency room in the Pediatric Pavilion was included in the closure. A trailer next to the pavilion and currently used for the hospital’s community health plan was set up as a temporary emergency room and triage area for of new patients. Patients in very serious condition will be transferred to the hospital’s regular emergency room, she said.

Structural engineers have been re-evaluating buildings on the County-USC campus after each strong aftershock. The Pediatric Pavilion had been yellow-tagged last week, meaning that certain areas of it were off-limits to personnel.

An evaluation Tuesday afternoon revealed new damage, possibly from Saturday morning’s strong aftershocks, and the pavilion was red-tagged for closure, Balinian said.

Officials have no estimate of the extent of the damage or how long the pavilion will be closed.