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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 3:35 p.m., Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Disaster response pace irks Big Island condo residents

Advertiser Staff

Some West Hawai'i residents trying to cope in the aftermath of Sunday's damaging pair of earthquakes today expressed frustration with the government's response to the disaster.

While dozens of engineers and other experts have fanned out to survey damages, residents of a partially evacuated condominium complex in Waikoloa said they're still waiting for county and state officials to specify which parts of the damaged complex cannot be occupied and what residents should to do next.

"We've got problems. We have one roof that is buckled, and people are attempting to turn water back on and now we're having flooding issues," said Jennifer Halley, a member of the condominium's board of directors.

"I've called Red Cross, I've called FEMA, I've called my local congressman," she said. "We need some help out here to manage this. This isn't just a typical little problem."

Halley said county officials told her this morning they were under the impression the entire 60-unit condo complex had been evacuated, but it wasn't.

"We've got people who are displaced, every night they don't know where to go...and then we have people that are trying to get back into their units, and in my opinion, I would not," Halley said. "I'm on the third floor, I don't believe that I will live in my unit."

She said the county told her the project had been inspected, but residents were never told about the findings of the inspection. County Public Works Deputy Engineer Jiro Sumada said he will have a county team visit the condo complex as soon as possible to further assess damages.

The complex is made up of seven two-story buildings including one three-story building. The worst damage was on the top floor of the three-story building, but four other structures also suffered damage, she said.

Halley said everyone has cleared out of the 12 units in the three-story building, but estimated that two dozen people are still living in the four other structures that were obviously damaged.

The complex's board of directors hired a private engineer to look at one of the buildings Monday afternoon, but the engineer said a more detailed inspection is necessary.

"The main beams that run through the buildings and the walls that are connected to them are not safe," Halley said. "We have cement blocks that have come down, are torn away, you can see daylight through it, and these are our main exterior structural walls that have this damage on the outside of the building."

Today's aftershocks added to those concerns. After the latest jolts, Halley said she could see additional cracks in her unit.