The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved an average of $3,626 in assistance to owners of homes damaged in the Oct. 15 earthquakes off the Big Island.

The amount is nowhere near what many quake victims need for expensive home repairs that Hawai'i County has estimated will cost an average of $50,000.

The Structural Engineers Association of Hawai'i estimates that 2,000 homes and 300 businesses were damaged in the 6.7- and 6.0-magnitude quakes off the northwest coast of the Big Island. Reports of the number of residences destroyed vary from three to 40.

Hawai'i County inspectors checked 1,682 buildings where damage was reported, according to the Department of Public Works. Thirty-three of the 67 structures that were "red-tagged" as too unsafe to occupy have yet to be fixed, and 92 of 227 structures that were "yellow-tagged," allowing restricted use, are awaiting repair, the department said.

An additional 1,388 structures were given green tags, meaning they sustained only cosmetic damage.

The quakes also caused an estimated $100 million damage to harbors, bridges, roads, hospitals and other public facilities.

FEMA approved 2,564 of the 3,612 applications for "individual assistance" it received from Hawai'i quake victims, with aid totaling $9.3 million, said public affairs officer Frank Mansell. An additional $51,399 was distributed to 132 applicants seeking "other needs assistance" to cover vehicle damage, medical bills for injuries and other costs.

By comparison, FEMA approved $5.7 billion in individual assistance to 1.17 million Louisiana victims of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, not including aid to residents of other states impacted by the devastating storm.

FEMA's grants to homeowners are not meant to restore residents to pre-disaster living conditions, but to get them "back on their feet," Mansell said. There is a $28,000 award cap. Those with the least income, most damage and no insurance received the largest checks, he said.

FINANCIAL AID

Big Island mayor and former Civil Defense chief Harry Kim said FEMA's response "to the needs of Hawai'i County went very well."

The county has a "close relationship with FEMA from way back," Kim said, because of a long history of cooperation in the aftermath of volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, wildfires and other destructive events.

Previous disasters also prepared the county and state for a quick response, he said.

Those in Hawai'i who received FEMA aid and those who didn't qualify were eligible to apply for low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The assistance is available to homeowners, renters and businesses.

As of Friday, the SBA had approved 698 applications for low-interest loans totaling $25.3 million, with some requests still being processed. Nearly $20 million of that amount went to homeowners and renters, said SBA spokesman Mark Randle.

Marty and Linda Halbritter of Kapa'au, the North Kohala community hardest hit by the earthquakes, are anxiously awaiting a $37,000 SBA loan check that will help pay for a new water line, a job that will cost $14,000, and additional repairs. The Halbritters have been without clean drinking water since the line ruptured Oct. 15.

"We're still dealing with it," Linda Halbritter, 59, said of the earthquake aftermath.

Her son, Robert, and his family received a substantial personal assistance check from FEMA; they would not say how much, but it won't come close to covering the $60,000 in repairs that are needed to their two-story Kapa'au home, which was knocked off its post-and-pier foundation and lost its downstairs bathroom.

Robert Halbritter, 40, who works in construction, was able to raise the house with jacks and repair some of the damage to avoid being "red-tagged." Instead, the Halbritters got a yellow tag, allowing restricted use, and have been able to complete about 60 percent of the foundation repairs in between paying jobs and helping friends with their repairs.

The October quakes nearly "pushed us over the edge," he said. Halbritter and his wife Lauren last month began FEMA-funded crisis counseling to help manage the stress of trying to repair their home while holding jobs and caring for a toddler.

"Our relationship was under stress. It's not easy being in a house that's broken, with your income damaged by lost business, and to keep a family together. It was a hard couple of months," he said.

Lauren Halbritter, 40, remains unsettled by memories of the violent shaking that occurred. "Whenever there's a rumbling or a big truck that drives by, I go into this panic state and I have to calm myself down. There are a lot of people who are still traumatized," she said.

OTHER AID

Homeowners who have exhausted all other avenues of earthquake recovery assistance available from FEMA and other agencies can apply for help from the newly formed West Hawai'i Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. The group has processed about 100 requests for homeowner assistance, according to chairman Maj. Glen Doss of the Salvation Army. VOAD, which is made up of various nonprofit agencies available to help quake victims, meets weekly to verify claims.

"There are still a lot of homes damaged and not repaired, and we help survivors who cannot help themselves," Doss said.

Most Hawai'i residents do not have earthquake insurance. It is considered optional coverage because mortgage lenders don't require it, as they do hurricane insurance. State insurance commissioner J.P. Schmidt said many homeowners and businesses don't want to pay the additional cost or are comfortable with the risk because there have been few severe earthquakes in the Islands in recent years.

Schmidt said approximately 46 companies offer earthquake policies in the state, although some Big Island residents say they have had difficulty finding companies willing to issue coverage. The cost of earthquake protection generally runs slightly less than hurricane insurance, he said.

Earthquake insurance might not have helped most victims of the Oct. 15 quakes, since coverage is designed to provide protection from catastrophic losses. Typical deductibles of 5 percent to 10 percent mean policyholders would be responsible for the first $30,000 to $60,000 in repair costs.

"We're a small congregation of just 100 members. This is a humongous task for us, but we're going to try," said senior pastor George Baybrook.

Baybrook said the church just picked an architect for the rebuilding effort. Although it can be built to resemble the original church, he said, the project will require extensive structural work using modern construction techniques that will compromise its historic value.

The earthquakes could have exacted a more precious toll if the rumbling had struck a couple hours later, during Sunday worship, and Baybrook said there has been a silver lining to the destruction.

"The congregation took it amazingly well. I cried myself when I drove up that morning. It's really pulled us together" and brought back lapsed members, he said.

MAKING DO

Other institutions in Kapa'au are making do, including the local branch of Bank of Hawaii. The bank has been operating out of a mobile trailer since the reinforced concrete building it had occupied since 1922 sustained severe roof damage and wall cracks from the earthquakes. Repair estimates are still being made, and Bank of Hawaii officials are hoping to reopen in six or seven months, said spokesman Stafford Kiguchi.

A report by the Structural Engineers Association of Hawai'i said that as of Dec. 31, 30 public facilities had sustained major damage from the earthquakes and 96 sustained minor damage, with total damage estimated at $100 million. These facilities include state and county buildings, colleges, schools, bridges, roads, hospitals, harbors, reservoirs and electric utilities.

The federal government is expected to pay 75 percent of the cost of the repairs, with the state and counties contributing the remainder.

As of Friday, FEMA had approved 139 "project worksheets" for specific repair jobs totaling $1.8 million in "public assistance," according to Mansell. An additional $6.3 million representing 276 project worksheets is being processed, he said.

Many more millions of dollars are expected to be approved. Two big-ticket items are repairs to Kawaihae Harbor, one of two commercial harbors on the Big Island, and restoration of irrigation ditches and other agricultural systems, said Maj. Gen. Robert Lee of the state Department of Defense, which includes state Civil Defense.

Gov. Linda Lingle already has requested from the Legislature a $25 million appropriation for unspecified earthquake repairs to schools, healthcare facilities and other public facilities and to upgrade warning systems and establish programs to minimize damage from future earthquakes.

Lee praised FEMA's actions to get assistance programs rolling immediately after the Oct. 15 quakes. "We were just impressed from the very beginning how quickly they acted to the governor's request for a disaster declaration and that it was statewide because we still needed time to figure out the after-effects along the island chain," he said.

ROCKS AND BRIDGES

Repair costs for Kawaihae Harbor are still being calculated, said Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa. The work will include repairing two sheds at Pier 1, demolishing another shed at Pier 2A and structural repairs to Piers 1 and 2A. Earthquake damage has restricted use of the damaged piers.

Meanwhile, construction crews are removing loose rocks from the hillsides along Hawai'i Belt Road near Maulua Gulch, and will move on next to Laupahoehoe Gulch and Kawaili Gulch. The work is expected to cost up to $3 million.

The DOT just opened a 1,000-foot-long temporary steel bridge and detour road on Hawai'i Belt Road south of Pa'auilo that will be in use while earthquake-damaged Kawaili Bridge is replaced ÷ a $1.5 million project. An additional $800,000 will be spent on repairs to Honokoa Bridge.

At Waikoloa Elementary School, two of nine buildings damaged in the quakes are awaiting final repairs but remain in use. The campus escaped serious structural damage, but the shaking brought down ceiling systems and light fixtures.

The school's 520 students missed six days of classes following the earthquakes while debris was cleared and damage assessed. For a couple of weeks after that, while repairs were undertaken, second-graders met in a church across the street and fourth-grade classes shared space.

"We're kind of back to normal," said principal Kris Kosa-Correia.

The library and a two-story classroom building still do not have lights because new fixtures and ceiling tiles have yet to be installed, she said, and the mood on campus remains uneasy. Students were further rattled by a major brush fire that burned in the surrounding community and by recent high winds that sent newly replaced but unsecured ceiling tiles flying.

"The wind was howling through the ceiling and there was no insulation to hold them down and they floated up in the air, and when it stopped they came crashing down to the ground. It was freaking out the kids. They were crying," Kosa-Correia said. "They're in severe trauma. They are remembering wherever they were when the earthquakes happened and what it felt like and now the ceiling's shaking."

Kona Community Hospital, which sustained similar nonstructural damage, is "fully operational," said community relations director Emily Mendez-Bryant.

Two of the hospital's three operating rooms were out of commission for two to three weeks and 29 long-term-care patients were put up at the Sheraton Keauhou while repairs were made.

On Maui, a $3 million DOT rockfall mitigation project is under way on the pali section of Honoapi'ilani Highway near Ma'alaea.

Pi'ilani Highway from Ma-nawainui to 'Alelele and Kalepa remains closed because of the risk of falling boulders loosened by the earthquakes while the county determines the extent of the work needed to make the road safe again.

A temporary bridge at Pa'ihi restored the traffic link between Kipahulu and Hana.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.