With damage estimates in the tens of billions, it will be years before the Los Angeles area fully recovers from the devastating earthquake that rocked residents from their beds on January 17th. And as if buckled roadways and burst water mains weren't bad enough, in the weeks after the temblor L.A. has had to deal with a host of other ills, including mudslides, valley fever and regular aftershocks.

But despite the adversity, there's research being done in L.A. Just ask Ethel Brook: "We take fire, floods, earthquakes, and we take riots. We're marketing researchers so we're in it to the end," says Brook, president of Southern California Interviewing Service, a research firm with facilities in Encino and Burbank.

She is one of a handful of researchers I contacted in late February to find out how L.A.-area research firms were doing in the wake of the quake. The consensus? Things are pretty much back to normal.

"We've had a number of aftershocks but unless it's a 4.0 or better we don't question it," Brook says.

First week was awful

Everyone I spoke with agreed that the week after the earthquake was awful, but things settled down after that. No one sustained major damage. "The first week saw some cancellations. But now we're slowly convincing the public and the agencies and the market researchers that we're in full operation and we have been since the second week," Brook says.

To get the word out, she, like most of the folks I talked to, phoned and faxed clients to let them know they were open for business.

Ted Heiman, owner of Ted Heiman and Associates, has offices in Woodland Hills, just a few miles from the
 quake's Northridge area epicenter. The worst problem in the days after the quake was traffic, he says, which made it tough for employees to get to work. He hasn't seen a drop off in business and in fact says some sympathetic clients have given him extensions to complete jobs.

Fallen lights

Hardest hit were the firms with offices in malls near the epicenter. Susan Wisniewski, assistant manager, Suburban Associates, says their offices in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, about eight miles from the epicenter, sustained some damage - fallen lights and ceiling panels, tipped filing cabinets, etc. - but it's been repaired.

Now they're just waiting for the mall to get back on its feet. Though the anchors are still rebuilding, most of the smaller stores are open and the mall owners are advertising to welcome shoppers back. And they've responded. Wisniewski says though the mall is less busy during the week - probably because people are at home waiting for contractors and insurance adjusters - on the weekends it's crowded.

Wisniewski, whose house is only a mile and a half from the epicenter, says she expects that in the coming weeks it will be even busier as people like her head out to replace items damaged by the quake. Going to the mall is another facet of the "normal" life that people seem anxious to return to, she says.

She learned that in 1987 after another early morning quake. She made her way into work because she knew that despite the rumbling, people would be out shopping. Sure enough, they were and they were more willing than ever to participate in a research project. "People didn't want to be alone, so they came to the mall. We had no qualified refusals that day. They were glad to be talking to people, to have somebody to share it with. It was hard to keep them focused on the interview!"

Brook reports similar experiences in recruiting in the days after January' s quake. "People were very kind and polite for the first week [when they were called for recruiting]. I think people were just glad to be alive. And then after that it was back to the same struggle!"

Misperceptions

Even the firms that weren't close to the quake have felt its effects. Sue Amidei, CEO of Ask Southern California, a research firm located Garden Grove - which is half way between L.A. and San Diego in Orange County - says that area businesses have been hurt by misperceptions of the scope of the disaster. "The media coverage has out of town clients frightened about coming west of the Mississippi," she says.

In addition, the geography of the L.A. area isn't well-understood by people in other parts of the country. People don't realize that while some parts of L.A. were damaged, L.A. as a whole is huge and many areas sustained minimal damage. "When you see the footage on the news it makes you think the whole area has been affected," says Ryan Reasor, president of the Question Shop, which is also located in Orange County.

Mary Rife can sympathize. She's president of Miami-based Rife Market Research, and she faced similar perceptions when Hurricane Andrew decimated parts of Florida in 1992. "Clients thought that the whole area was damaged and they felt that respondents wouldn't be in the frame of mind for research," she says.

Neither was true. The only real problem was that area hotels were jammed with displaced residents, insurance adjusters and government officials, which made it difficult for clients visiting to observe groups.

Good things

Some good things have come out of the quake. For one, it helped Francine Cafarchia land a job. Cafarchia, a new focus group facility manager with L. A.-based Marketing Matrix, was hired after her predecessor moved out of the area as a result of the quake. "Their apartment was condemned and so they decided to move. It was a life decision that the quake shook them to make," Cafarchia says. Commuting is difficult, but she's glad to have the job.

Cafarchia says that traffic problems have been the most frequent concern of clients who have called after the quake. Fortunately, traffic hasn't been the nightmare it was expected to be.

True, recruiters have to remind respondents to allow extra time, and some rerouting has been necessary, but those are minor concerns. "People out here pride themselves on knowing the best routes. They're pretty resourceful," says Tony Blass, president of Field Dynamics, Encino.

Blass admits to feeling a bit rattled and says his company, which is about 10 miles south of epicenter, lost some work but is "very much back on track." He's made phone calls to some clients and traveled to visit others to touch base. "It was nice to get out of town," he says.

He, too, reports little difficulty doing research after the quake. In fact, just the opposite: "We had respondents who were bitterly disappointed about groups that were cancelled because of it. In some ways, respondents have wanted to get back to normal. We did groups the next week, and other than a little conversation at the beginning, the moderator said the topic didn't come up in the groups."

Blass says that on a personal level, the disaster has helped him focus on the values that are important to him. And he's been pleased by the response of local businesspeople. "My phone has been ringing off the hook with people calling to help. The marketing community out here has responded by really pulling together."