Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 22, 1994 TAG: 9401220088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
"We probably underestimated the amount of people seeking assistance," James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said at an afternoon news conference in the hard-hit San Fernando Valley. "We were trying to hurry and help the victims and put in a much quicker system."
"It's getting bigger every day," said Red Cross spokeswoman Barbara Wilks.
On a day when four strong aftershocks kept people on edge, FEMA officials enraged about 1,000 people waiting in line at the Northridge disaster center by asking them to board buses to other disaster offices.
"They think that by getting on the bus here, there won't be lines elsewhere," said George Kurbikoff of Granada Hills. "We've been here three hours, who are they kidding? Why don't they hand out appointments to people?"
Answers, it seemed, were as short as increasingly scarce fresh water.
Some quake victims had been told they could get immediate vouchers for housing; some were told no vouchers were available. Others said they were unable to reach FEMA officials on a toll-free number that the agency had urged people to call rather than appear in person. A reporter who tried the number got through after eight tries.
Other victims refused offers to take a bus from the overcrowded Winnetka Recreation Center in Northridge to other disaster application sites because they had no way of knowing if the situation would be the same there.
Nancy Darte, coordinator of the Winnetka FEMA center, said everyone waiting outside would at least get an appointment slip, but the appointments - at which the victims' amount of damage would be assessed for emergency aid - were for Feb. 13 and filling up fast.
Asked about the logjam of calls for appointments, Darte said, "They'll just need to keep trying." Asked about the voucher report, she said, "I don't know what the housing authority is doing."
Don Keith of Northridge, one of those who took a bus to an emergency center in Sylmar, said he was beginning to feel "like a tennis ball."
At the news conference, federal officials tried to put the best spin on the situation, noting that it took as long as 12 days for disaster centers to open after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake near San Francisco.
Officials announced plans to open seven more disaster centers, including a "Super Center" in the San Fernando Valley, by next week.
And the National Guard announced that starting Saturday morning - in time to beat the rains - it would erect at least six tent cities like those thrown up after Hurricane Andrew battered Florida in 1992. The tents will go up in many of the parks and ball fields that are now temporary homes to thousands of displaced quake victims.
National Guard Gen. Tandy Bozeman said soldiers will pitch 72 large 30-person tents and about 160 tents that can house as many as 20 people each.
Despite officials' efforts to show they had the situation under control, their signals were mixed.
Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros urged people living outside to find indoor shelter, if only for the children's sake.
"You hear children with hacking coughs already," he said. "And it's getting cooler at night."
But Cisneros acknowledged his agency could do nothing to help most people follow his advice. He said housing vouchers were available only for a lucky few, and the $200 million in promised aid will come in block grants that could take years in the bureaucracy.
by CNB