THE TIMES POLL : For Most Quake Victims, Life Is Back to Normal

Eighteen months after the Northridge earthquake toppled their homes and wrenched their psyches, two-thirds of the residents in the hard-hit San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys have returned to life as usual, although one in four reports lingering financial woes that leave many of them strapped for enough money to complete repairs on their homes.

A new Times Poll shows that for the most part, the costliest natural calamity in U.S. history has given way to a sense of normalcy in the lives of those affected most severely by the Jan. 17, 1994, temblor. Two-thirds of residents in the northern valleys have finished or expect to wrap up quake repairs to their homes by year’s end; even more believe that their communities as a whole are well on the road to recovery.

But a significant minority, especially those living close to the quake’s epicenter, consider themselves in worse financial shape than before the quake or even six months ago. Nearly 10% of people in the western San Fernando Valley, which suffered the most quake damage, estimate that they need $15,000 or more to put their homes back in order--funds that government agencies and insurance companies may not provide.

“I don’t have that money,” said Paula Chitbangonsyn, 42, whose North Hills home still has cracked walls, jammed windows and a second mortgage.

As with almost half the residents polled, Chitbangonsyn and her husband, a mechanic, applied for and received aid from the federal government. Their $3,400 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was close to the median of $3,800 in government aid received by those polled by The Times.

But the Chitbangonsyn family was turned down for a Small Business Administration loan, putting restoration of their home to pre-earthquake condition further out of reach.

“You have to live with all the cracks,” Paula Chitbangonsyn said. “You have no choice.”

By staying in her home of 10 years, Chitbangonsyn followed the pattern of the vast majority of homeowners polled, 91% of whom live in the same place they did before the earthquake. Renters experienced more disruption: About one-quarter of them moved permanently to new lodgings because of the magnitude 6.7 temblor.

Proportionately, residents in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys were the hardest hit by last year’s quake. In the valleys, fully 90% of residents reported damage to their homes, compared to 42% of residents elsewhere in Los Angeles County, a previous Times Poll found.

The latest Times Poll interviewed 1,051 residents in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

For most homeowners polled, the pace of recovery has been gradual but steady over the last year and a half, the new poll found. Seven of 10 homeowners report good progress on fixing up their residences; and 48% of all those who experienced damage have completed repairs, up from 41% in January.

About one in six says some financial assistance is needed to finish quake repairs, and the median amount of aid still needed is $10,000.

Overall, 65% characterize their repair work as a financial burden. But that figure represents a heartening drop from six months ago when 73% described their recovery efforts that way.

The amount of money spent on quake repairs varies. In the eastern San Fernando Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley, the wide majority of residents spent less than $5,000 of their own money to patch up their homes. In the western part of the Valley, half the residents spent $5,000 or less on quake repairs. But nearly one in four west Valley residents was forced to spend more than $20,000 in personal funds to cover repairs.

The difference in spending reflects the west Valley residents’ proximity to the quake’s epicenter and, perhaps, their greater affluence. But their higher out-of-pocket costs may also explain why a larger proportion of west Valley residents--more than one in three--regard their financial state as worse now than what it was before the earthquake, compared to the east Valley, where the figure is one in five.

Office manager Susan Ramsey, 44, and her husband are trying to determine just what to repair in the Porter Ranch house where the couple has lived for the last decade. Although their insurance carrier will pay for some of the work, their personal expenses will easily run into the thousands, including the reconstruction of two fireplaces that collapsed.

The question is whether a full restoration of their house would be worth the cost, especially now that Ramsey--like one-third of all west Valley homeowners--considers her home a liability rather than an asset.

“We’re thinking of repairing it enough so that it’s sound, but are we really going to tear down all the stucco? Are we going to tear out the pool and put in a new one? You’re talking about a house that’s gone down $50,000 in value since the earthquake,” Ramsey said.

Other woes beset the Studio City apartment building Ramsey and her husband own. One of their insurers for the building has continued to haggle with them over their claim--and refused to renew their policy, which happened to one in 10 of those polled who had earthquake insurance before the temblor hit.

With her claim still outstanding, Ramsey is unable to find another insurance carrier for her apartment building. “They put you between a rock and a hard place,” she said.

The poll found that two-thirds of insurance claims have been settled. But that is significantly less than the 95% settlement rate for earthquake-related claims throughout Southern California.

Diana Bonani of Canyon Country is one of those still waiting for earthquake checks from insurance companies.

Bonani, 48, and her fellow condominium owners repaired their exterior damage months ago, dipping into their homeowners association reserve funds.

“We couldn’t let people go around with sprinklers that didn’t work, walls that were falling down, fences that were coming down and doors that weren’t closing,” said Bonani, a substitute teacher who has lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for 13 years.

Tie-ups with the insurance company have prevented a speedy reimbursement. “They’re taking so long. You’re talking about a year and a half now,” Bonani said.

Despite the number of unresolved claims, insurers garnered high marks in the poll for the way they have handled matters. Three out of four residents with policies before the quake pronounce themselves satisfied with their insurance carriers; most of those respondents call themselves “very satisfied.” Overall, half of homeowners polled were insured against quake damage.

Even though last year’s burst of geological fury caused more than $20 billion in damage, not everyone is convinced of the need for quake insurance. Nearly all those without policies before the Northridge earthquake, which included most renters, did not bother applying for coverage afterward.

In general, those surveyed have a rosy outlook on the pace of recovery in their neighborhoods. Three out of four said their communities have made a good amount of progress in home repair; the proportion is even higher in the western Valley.

Only 10% polled ever thought of walking away and abandoning their damaged homes. The vast majority of residents are like engineer George Quintero, who decided to stay put.

Quintero’s two-story Chatsworth home is cracked, his Reseda office came crumbling down and his wife and two daughters “flipped out” after being so violently awakened at 4:31 on Jan. 17, 1994. For days, his family insisted on sleeping on the first floor. A colleague drove up from Torrance to deliver drinking water.

But life has crept back to normal for the Quinteros. And the idea of leaving is totally alien to George Quintero.

“It’s not part of my thinking,” said Quintero, 64. “I was born in this city. I’m used to earthquakes.”

Assistant Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus contributed to this story.

* QUAKE RECOVERY: Eighteen months after the quake, “ghost towns” are coming back to life slowly. B1

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How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll interviewed 1,051 adult residents living in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys by telephone July 8 and 9 under the supervision of Times Poll Director John Brennan. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and non-listed numbers could be contacted. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. The sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age and education. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors, such as question wording and the order in which questions were presented.

Recovery Poll Findings

A wide majority of residents in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, who were hardest hit by the Northridge earthquake, say that life has returned to normal a year and a half later. A Times Poll of 1,051 people finds that quake repairs, for the most part, have been proceeding smoothly.

Have the lives of you and your family pretty much returned to normal, or is the Northridge earthquake having a longer-term impact on the way you live?

66% back to normal, 33% still an impact, 1% don’t know.

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How have quake repairs been going on your residence? (Asked of those who suffered damage to their residence.)

67% well, 21% poorly, 12% don’t know.

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Do you still need financial assistance to complete repairs to your residence? (Asked of those who suffered damage to their residence.)

18% yes, 76% no, 6% don’t know

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If you still require financial assistance to complete repairs, how much do you need?

28% less than $5,000; 28% less than $15,000; 40% more than $15,000; 4% don’t know.

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll