EARTHQUAKE: DISASTER BEFORE DAWN : The Silver Lining in L.A.’s String of Perils: Fast Action : Relief: The FEMA director says emergency office is already set up. It is the one still open since the fires, which is the one still open since the riots.

When he was roused from sleep with the news of the earthquake, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was relieved, in an odd way, that the fires that scorched Southern California last year caused him to keep open the disaster relief office that had been set up in response to the Los Angeles riots.

“I wouldn’t say it’s fortunate” that the Los Angeles area has had such a string of disasters, said James Lee Witt, the director of FEMA, said on an airplane en route to California. “But at least people were there in place. It saves the two or three days that it would normally take to set up a disaster relief office.”

In addition to expediting services to disaster victims, this gives FEMA--an agency working hard to improve an image damaged by sluggish responses to past disasters, such as Hurricane Andrew, a chance to look good.

“What it really helps is that the state and federal agencies are already in position for a coordinated response,” said Witt, the chief strategist for federal disaster relief efforts. “They were already coordinating from the very instant (the quake) happened.”

Such disaster relief field offices usually function for a few weeks or months after a disaster. The fires broke out just as FEMA was planning to close the office it opened in response to the riots. Last week, FEMA officials were talking again about eliminating it. But as they made their way through an ice storm in Washington to get to the airport to fly to Los Angeles, they discussed making it permanent.

During the plane trip across the continent, Witt was briefed by his assistants and studied maps, charts and news releases. He conferred with staff from the White House and various departments and with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry G. Cisneros.

The President sent Witt, Cisneros and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena to California to assess the damage and report back to him. He decided against going immediately himself because he did not want his arrival to detract from the serious work of disaster relief.

“The President does not want to get in the way of the response,” said Witt, who was dressed for a disaster in blue jeans and ostrich-leather boots.

Throughout the day, FEMA mobilized about 400 urban search-and-rescue workers, several medical assistance teams and disaster assessment squads from places as far-flung as Fairfax, Va., El Paso, Tex., and King County, Wash.

“When I talked to the President this morning, he said how important it was that we provide whatever resources we have available to the state and local government to be able to meet the needs of the disaster victims,” Witt said.

To pay for initial relief efforts, the federal government has discretionary funds available left over from the $2 billion Congress allocated in response to the floods in the Midwest last summer.

Cisneros, who was charged by the President with managing the federal assistance to the South Florida regions hit by Hurricane Andrew, said the Clinton Administration will not make the same mistake with this quake that the Bush Administration was criticized for: delayed response.

“There is no time lag here at all,” Cisneros said. “They were clearly on the job within a half an hour. None of the recriminations that characterized the Hurricane Andrew situation--who’s on first, who’s on second, who’s responsibility is it--are applicable.”

Cisneros said that the federal role will be to fill in the gaps and help the local officials, not direct the response.

“It is important to support the efforts of local officials, assess where they need help and look at spaces where additional resources are needed to create a seamless intergovernmental team,” Cisneros said.