Remembering

By Joseph J. Kane/Charleston

In the torrent of news about the California earthquake, the victims of another huge natural disaster on the opposite coast have been all but forgotten. Though the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Hugo when it smashed into South Carolina six weeks ago did not equal the damage caused by the tremor, it was by far the most destructive storm in U.S. history. In South Carolina alone, it killed 18 people, severely damaged or obliterated more than 36,000 homes, wiped out crops valued at $50 million and knocked down trees worth $1 billion. All told, property damage in the 24-county region that bore the brunt of Hugo's wrath could total $5 billion.

By last week there were some heartening signs of recuperation. Nearly all the 90,000 people who sought refuge in motels or Red Cross emergency shelters have either returned home or moved in with family or friends. Roughly 85% of the 224,000 people idled temporarily by the hurricane have gone back to work. In Charleston tourists in horse-drawn carriages gawked at debris heaped outside antebellum homes in the quaint historic area, and the sounds of rebuilding filled the air. Says Paul Stein, president of a home-remodeling company: "We have at least five years of work ahead of us." In fact, conditions had improved enough for Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. to send his ; police chief to hard-hit Santa Cruz, Calif., with a supply of electric generators and bottled water. Said Riley: "We understand what they are going through."

There is, however, plenty of frustration, most of it directed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Citizens and local officials complain that FEMA did not act quickly enough to help the area rebound. The agency has closed all but five of 32 disaster-assistance centers after taking more than 51,000 applications for aid. So far, the Federal Government has committed $321 million to Hugo recovery efforts in South Carolina, and $100 million has already been paid to contractors and cleanup crews. About $17 million in checks for individual victims of the storm has also been mailed.

Nevertheless, FEMA has become a convenient target for all the frustrations people feel. In the rural community of Awendaw (pop. 200), the Rev. Jonathan C. Roberts of the Greater Zion A.M.E. Church defied FEMA by setting up temporary trailers for his congregation -- on land where the flood plain is lowest. "They told me, 'You bring those trailers in here, we'll lock you up,' " says Roberts. "I told them, 'Meet me at the county line.' " Such confrontations have taken a toll on FEMA officials. Says relief officer Paul E. Hall: "No one likes to be called a jackass and a simpleton."

Rather than fearing that the crisis in California will drain resources they need for their own recovery, some of Hugo's victims seem to have drawn renewed courage from the calamity on the West Coast. The realization that there are even worse disasters than the one they suffered has reinforced their determination to restore normality to their lives. Hugo tore the roof off Betty Disher's home on Sullivan's Island, which some experts think should be off limits to development because of its vulnerability to hurricanes. She was unable to watch televised reports about the quake. Now she and her husband Johnny have made an optimistic choice. "We have decided that we are going to repair the house even if it is wrong," she vows. "We are going home."