Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 19, 1994 TAG: 9401190248
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By The Washington Post
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
At least 34 people were killed as a result of the predawn quake Monday, and more than 1,800 people were reported injured. An estimated 15,000 were homeless, many camping in city parks because they were afraid to return home as hundreds of aftershocks continued to rock the area.
About 95,000 people were without electricity, and as many as 100,000 houses had no water after the worst quake in Los Angeles in 23 years. No accurate estimate was available on the number of buildings damaged.
With hundreds of thousands of commuters heeding appeals by city officials to stay home, the full impact on the disrupted highway system was partially cushioned. An indication of trouble to come was a massive traffic jam Tuesday around Interstate 5, California's main north-south route, which was partially closed when the quake flattened overpasses and buckled pavement.
State transportation officials said that, with federal financial help, they hope to repair broken freeways by the end of this year, a significantly more optimistic outlook than was voiced on Monday.
"Our goal is to do it, and we're using what happened with the Bay Bridge as our example," said Jim Drago, press secretary for the California Department of Transportation. The Bay Bridge, two sections of which collapsed during the Loma Prieta quake near San Francisco in October 1989, was restored to operation within a month under an emergency plan.
Tuesday, crews were tearing down collapsed portions of Interstate 10, the city's main east-west artery.
"The public has to be prepared to make long-term adjustments" to its commuting patterns, Police Chief Willie L. Williams said.
Because many more people must learn how to navigate back streets or even to use mass transit, the quake has affected the lives of nearly everyone in this vast metropolitan area, not just those in the suburban San Fernando Valley, where the 6.6 magnitude earthquake was centered.
Everyone seemed to have a story about a favorite piece of broken china, a frightened dog or a collapsed wall. The fear that an aftershock would result in a repeat performance Monday night resulted in sleepless nights in many households. Many families stayed at one of 23 emergency shelters opened by the Red Cross.
"There are so many people who are afraid to go back into their homes even though their homes are safe," said Barbara Wilkes, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
Wilkes said 3,500 people spent the night in shelters, while many more stayed outside, where they felt safer.
Jose Manzano, 23, and about 40 relatives spent the night beneath bedsheets and plastic tarpaulins on a softball field in San Fernando. He told a reporter Tuesday that none of several houses in which his family lived had been destroyed but that "everybody was afraid."
"We don't know what's going to happen," he said Tuesday morning. "I called around, and we all gathered here."
Maria Guadalupe Llamas brought her family to the field for the same reason, joining an estimated 700 people who spent the night there. But as did many parents, she spent much of her time trying to console a child. Her daughter, Marvella Lopez, 9, sat awake all night in a plastic chair, too frightened to sleep.
At the three-story Northridge Meadows apartment complex, the scene remained grim. Crews searching the rubble found the body of a 16th victim in the crushed remnants of the first floor.
"All the bodies we found were in bed," firefighter John Hanson said. "They didn't have a chance to wake up."
State officials sent about 300 search-and-rescue teams to comb collapsed buildings. They lowered high-tech listening devices and cameras into crevices.
\ HOW TO HELP QUAKE VICTIMS\ Relief agencies taking donations for victims of Monday's Los Angeles earthquake:\ \ The American Red Cross: Monetary contributions only. Send to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C., 20013. Credit card donations can be made by calling (800) 842-2200.\ \ Feed the Children: Monetary contributions or nonperishable food and personal hygiene items and clothing. Send to Feed the Children, P.O. Box 36, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73101. Credit-card donations: (800) 627-4556.\ \ World Relief: Monetary contributions. Send to World Relief, Dept. 3, P.O. Box WRC, Wheaton, Ill. 60189. Credit-card donations: (800) 535-5433.\ \ Source: The Washington Post
Keywords:
FATALITY INFOLINE
by CNB