Advertiser Staff Writer

State and county officials are hoping for an expanded disaster declaration from President Bush today that would clear the way for more federal assistance to cope with earthquake damage to Big Island homes, businesses and public facilities.

Gov. Linda Lingle requested the extra assistance Saturday, citing the most recent estimates of damage to schools, roads, businesses and other public facilities including Kawaihae Harbor that totaled about $100 million.

That doesn't include a Federal Emergency Management Agency tally of damage to residences that found 10 homes were destroyed, 153 suffered major damage and 1,484 had minor damage from the Oct. 15 magnitude 6.7 and 6.0 earthquakes centered off the west coast of the Big Island.

FEMA tallied another 241 homes that were "affected" by the quake, meaning they need some repairs.

Big Island building inspectors have "red-tagged" 44 homes so far, meaning they appear to be damaged so severely that they cannot be occupied.

County inspectors identified another 117 homes that have received yellow tags, meaning portions of those homes are unusable. Those include homes where a carport has collapsed or a garage has been severely damaged, but the rest of the house is still usable, said Jiro Sumada, deputy chief engineer for the county Department of Public Works.

Sumada said the largest numbers of damaged homes were in Kona, Kapa'au in North Kohala, and Waimea in South Kohala.

President Bush last week approved a disaster declaration that allows for federal assistance to clear debris and make emergency repairs to public facilities.

An expanded declaration would open the spigot of federal aid for individual homeowners and for permanent repairs to public facilities.

FEMA crews are on hand on O'ahu to staff disaster relief centers assuming the president signs the expanded disaster declaration, civil defense officials said.

The Big Island County Council has scheduled a special meeting Tuesday to consider granting special powers to Big Island Mayor Harry Kim to oversee the earthquake recovery effort.

Public Works officials are working on a plan today to waive some building permit requirements for people who are trying to rebuild or repair damage caused by the earthquakes. That kind of a program would require County Council approval, Sumada said.

The county last week suspended processing of all building permits to free up inspectors and engineers to respond to requests from homeowners who are worried about damage to their homes and want an inspection to be sure the structures are safe.