Bush Is ‘Deeply Moved’ by Damage : Relief: State officials think they have a better chance at aid because of President Bush’s visit.

OAKLAND —  Under the gray of an early morning fog, George Bush stood on Cypress Street and gazed at the wreck of the Nimitz Freeway looming above him.

“Jesus,” he said.

It was the sort of response state officials were hoping to hear as Bush toured earthquake-damaged parts of the Bay Area.

“When he sees the destruction, it’s not just an abstraction like the federal deficit. It’s more personal to him,” said Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, who, along with Gov. George Deukmejian, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and area congressmen and mayors, joined Bush for the tour.

“We’ll do better because he came out,” McCarthy said.

So far, Bush and his aides have not been willing to commit themselves to a specific dollar figure for aid. Congressional Democrats have scheduled a House vote next week on a $2.5-billion aid package. Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose), who has been coordinating the relief package for the House leadership, estimates that the final cost could reach $10 billion and that the eventual federal share could top $5 billion.

Bush, however, repeatedly resisted being tied down. “I’m willing to do what’s needed to be done,” Bush told reporters toward the end of his tour, in Santa Cruz. “There’s no ceiling on the compassion of the American people.”

But he said “the figures are a little soft at this point” on damage estimates. “In terms of what it will cost, I don’t know.”

State officials differ in their estimates of how much federal aid will be needed. But, as Bush toured the freeway site, Deukmejian said: “The Feds are giving us their almost iron-clad guarantee that they’re going to do everything they can.

“We’re going to hold their feet to the fire.”

In a briefing at Moffett Field Naval Air Station before the tour began, Bush heard damage estimates from local officials: $2 billion in damage in San Francisco, nearly $1 billion in Oakland. Several billion more for repairing bridges and highways.

“We’re probably looking at $3 billion or so,” Deukmejian said. “We’re not going to have enough on our own. You’re going to hear a lot about that.”

From there, Bush flew by helicopter to Oakland, landing a few blocks from the Nimitz Freeway, where he was joined by Reps. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Oakland), Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) and George Miller (D-Martinez).

As he greeted rescue workers and praised volunteer efforts, Bush watched construction cranes continue the slow work of retrieving bodies from the freeway wreckage. Oakland Police Capt. Steven Jensen pointed out a car still pinned between the decks.

San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, who joined Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson and Alameda Mayor Chuck Corica in escorting Bush, then pointed to steel reinforcing rods twisted by the earthquake’s force. “Like spaghetti,” Bush said.

“I’m deeply moved by this, deeply moved,” Bush said. “You have feelings of contradiction: one of great sadness and one of genuine appreciation for the way this community is pulling together. You’ve got a lot of people out there rooting for you.”

After touring the freeway site, Bush placed a call to Pastor Berumen, the father of 6-year-old Julio, whose leg surgeons had to amputate to extract him from a crushed car Tuesday night. With Dr. James Betts, who performed the surgery, standing next to him, Bush told Berumen: “I’m proud of your courage, proud of the doctors. You be strong. Have your faith.”

Later, Bush described the call as “the most touching moment” of his tour. “I had a chance to tell him that the American people were rooting for him . . . that we all care.”

From Oakland, Bush flew across the bay to San Francisco, his helicopter swooping low across the Bay Bridge and circling the Marina District to inspect damage. Landing briefly at the Presidio, Bush met with Agnos and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) before flying on to Santa Cruz. There, Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Monterey) and Santa Cruz Mayor Mardi Wormhoudt took him on a tour of the collapsed buildings of the Pacific Gardens Mall.

Bush walked past a department store where two manikins dressed in women’s clothes were virtually the only things left standing and past mounds of broken glass from storefront windows. And as he walked he praised the efforts of volunteers who had pitched in to help clean up after the disaster.

Just a few weeks ago, he noted, Santa Cruz residents “sent $18,000 just in volunteer contributions to South Carolina” after Hurricane Hugo hit the area. “And here they are stricken. And I hope that the American people will respond with exactly the same compassion.”

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), whose 43rd Congressional District includes southern Orange County, toured Santa Cruz along with President Bush and the other members of Congress. Packard was traveling with three other members of the House Fire and Emergency Services Caucus.

He and other lawmakers will work to find the money to rebuild federal highways in the Bay Area, especially I-880, the Nimitz Freeway, Packard said in a telephone interview. “We’ve just got to find the funds.”

In the long run, Packard said, the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, on which he serves, “will be evaluating what we can do to better protect our public services and facilities during a severe earthquake.” The government also needs to look at ways to improve the mobility of rescue workers and government officials in the hours after a serious earthquake. “The first two days,” he said, “we were essentially wiped out as far as being able to move people around.”

Times Staff Writer Robert W. Stewart in Washington contributed to this report.