Governor Tours Battered Town

PASO ROBLES, Calif. —  Aftershocks from a deadly earthquake continued to ripple through California’s Central Coast on Tuesday, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured this town’s devastated historic center and declared a state of emergency.

Inspectors told a crowd of building owners Tuesday night that 58 downtown structures housing more than 100 businesses would be cordoned off at least through Friday while inspectors determine how many must be condemned.

The news came as a heavy blow to merchants in the midst of the busiest commercial season.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a rough Christmas for Paso Robles,” Mayor Frank R. Mecham said.

Two women died Monday when the quake caused the roof of a 19th century building to collapse on them.

For much of Tuesday, rescue crews and search dogs fanned out in San Luis Obispo County, hunting for any more casualties or people buried in debris, while engineers examined the condition of homes and businesses.

By evening, officials announced that no one else had died in the disaster and the number of people injured was 50, about 10 more than counted on Monday.

The magnitude 6.5 quake struck this wine and horse ranching region about 11:15 a.m., cracking state Highway 46 and shaking Hearst Castle, the San Simeon estate of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. The upheaval was felt 200 miles away in Los Angeles, where residents reported a gentle rolling.

Most of the destruction was confined to Paso Robles, about 20 miles east of the epicenter, where the bodies of Jennifer Myrick, 20, of Atascadero and Marilyn Zafuto, 55, of Paso Robles were discovered.

George Brown, an emergency service coordinator for San Luis Obispo County, said gas leaks and structural damage were scattered across most of the county. And, he said, “We’ve had some broken arms and plenty of bruises and bumps from stuff flying off shelves. But none of our hospitals have been overwhelmed.”

In the wake of Monday’s quake, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer asked that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conduct an emergency inspection of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, on the coast near San Luis Obispo.

“I am concerned that the 6.5 magnitude earthquake which struck the area yesterday may have caused damage to the plant that has not yet been detected,” Boxer wrote. “I have been advised that a serious earthquake could cause structural damage to the underlying foundation of the plant’s reactors.”

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, residents began gathering in Paso Robles’ main park, near the old Carnegie library, dotted with big trees. They shared stories and occasionally shed tears.

Karen Horzen, 54, daughter of 80-year-old Mary Mastagni, who owned the building that collapsed, said it was “the most devastating day in our history. It’s just about devastated my mother. My mom is just so sorry about those women.”

Horzen, a real estate agent, said her mother had not yet retrofitted the building because “it’s just a very, very costly enterprise, especially for a woman who is a retired widow.” Still, she said, “We were just getting ready to get started.”

The family had received a $90,000 grant from the city a few weeks ago to begin refurbishing the building, and they were going to retrofit at the same time, she said.

The building was valued at $1 million, which is about what it will cost to rebuild, Horzen said.

Patricia Sherwin, an owner of Pan Jewelers, one of the businesses in the clock tower building, said she was told that it would be some time before she could retrieve her merchandise.

“Fine. I’d rather have a new building. I just want to get my stuff out,” Sherwin said.

The area experienced several aftershocks Tuesday, the largest, at 10:17 a.m., measuring 4.6.

About 100 buildings in the city of 25,000 people have been marked for inspection.

Randy Dettmer, owner of an architectural firm in San Luis Obispo, volunteered to conduct some of the inspections, and on Tuesday he and his team of five went through seven buildings. Two will be red-tagged and face demolition, while five will be yellow-tagged, meaning they must undergo substantial repairs before they can be considered safe.

“We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars minimum” to repair and seismically retrofit those buildings, Dettmer said. “As the city investigates further, that number is just going to go up and up.”

Schwarzenegger pledged full assistance from the state, and promised the main street would be restored.

“This was an American main street alive with energy .... Today, this is a site of devastation. But we will come together once again as Californians and as neighbors ....These buildings may have crumbled under the force of the quake, but I know for sure that the people will not buckle that easily.”

Asked whether the state should mandate retrofitting of old buildings, the governor said: “I think local government should take care of it themselves. I own buildings [in Santa Monica]. There’s always this big battle between people that want to make this place safe and the people that don’t want to go and take the expense because it’s very expensive to do the retrofitting.”

However, he said owners should learn from the quake.

“But I think that when you look at this main street here, the buildings that had been retrofitted ... those buildings stood,” Schwarzenegger said. “They are safe. So I think it’s a lesson to all the others, that they should retrofit their buildings.”

Staff writer John Johnson contributed to this report. He and Kelley reported from Paso Robles and Morin reported from Los Angeles.