Pacts Signed to Cover Quake Damage Expenses

Gov. Gary Locke, touting the pride and resilience of Washington residents who rode out last week’s earthquake, has signed contracts with the federal government to cover most of the disaster’s multimillion-dollar price tag.

“We have survived the initial emergency, and now we’re starting the long recovery process to rebuild for the future,” the governor said Tuesday.

Locke and officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency signed an aid pact in a vacant department store at Capital Mall, where more than 200 state and federal relief workers set up shop Monday.

The 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked the region last Wednesday, injuring more than 400 people, few seriously, and doing an estimated $2-billion worth of damage to homes and businesses and to state and local roads and government buildings.

Locke and Tammy Doherty, FEMA’s acting regional director, said it will be a few more days until they have a firm damage figure. Locke said the state Department of Transportation had tallied almost $100 million in road and bridge damage and that cities and counties would add to the total. Emergency repairs are covered 100% by the federal government if work begins within six months.

The state didn’t yet have good estimates on damage to government buildings, in part because no one knows how much it will cost to fix the Capitol building, the governor said.

Typically, FEMA covers 75% of those costs, with the state or local government picking up the rest. Locke said the state will try to help cities and counties that can’t cover their match.

Private property owners may qualify for grants, low-interest loans or housing assistance.

“In the past few days, the people of Washington have really shown the world that we have a can-do spirit that brings us together even in the toughest circumstances,” the governor told a news conference.

With the signing of the agreement with FEMA, all levels of government are now coordinating relief efforts, “not only to rebuild what the Nisqually Quake tore down, but to build structures so they are stronger.”

Locke, his wife, Mona, and their two toddlers have moved back into the governor’s mansion, although repairs will have to be done on some of the exterior.

A harmless crack on the wall above daughter Emily’s bed has her worried, and son Dylan doesn’t quite comprehend the commotion, Locke said. He urged parents to spend more time talking with their kids about earthquakes and their anxieties, consulting counselors if the youngsters seem traumatized.

Meanwhile, a bright orange, truck-mounted crane rolled into place next to the Capitol, ready to begin lifting scaffolding materials up to the base of its dome Wednesday.

Wood and steel will be used to shore up a 15,000-pound decorative column that split away from a load-bearing buttress in the colonnade just beneath the massive dome.

Structural engineers are using laser technology to keep track of whether any of the 10 columns that shifted during the quake continue to move. The columns--35-feet high, 6 feet in diameter and 60,000 pounds apiece--are part of a colonnade that surrounds the base of the dome. The top of one column shifted four inches, officials said.

Officials have said the dome is not in danger of failing or tipping over.