It’s Looting of a Different Type

* It has been several weeks since the Northridge earthquake, and my husband and I are still not sleeping. But it’s not from the tremors that we all feel nor the destruction that we all see. It is from the selfishness, deceptiveness and ignorance which unfortunately have become our neighborhood.

We moved to Northridge over four years ago but have never really gotten involved with our neighbors. The earthquake on Jan. 17 changed that forever. Overnight, Northridge was declared a disaster area, which meant federal disaster aid would be distributed and insurance deductibles had to be exceeded.

Suddenly our quiet neighborhood became a theater for con artists performing for insurance adjusters and Federal Emergency Management Agency inspectors.

Our relatives, friends and neighbors devised lists of lost personal items they never owned in order to exceed the high deductible on their insurance policies. Carpet, tiling and roofing destroyed before the earthquake were now held to be due to the earthquake. “How could they prove it didn’t happen during the quake?” was everyone’s reply when confronted. “You have to fudge a little or you won’t get anything” was the advice of our neighbors.

The devastation of the earthquake has gone deeper than structural damage. It has brought about “financial looting” on every street in every neighborhood.

LISA STEIN

Northridge