WASHINGTON (PTI): Bush administration officials at a special briefing for Asian correspondents on May 20 said that the attacks on Asian business came to the authorities as a surprise.
They had anticipated trouble between Blacks and Whites but were unprepared for the “minority against minority” tum the riots took.
Deputy Secretary of the department of housing and urban development Alfred Dellibovi revealed that the extent of destruction was much greater than even the press reports had indicated.
He said that 330 residential units were damaged mostly as a result of fires spreading from business that were burnt. The number of business enterprises destroyed was as high as 5000 Dellibovi said.
The number killed in the riots has been put by the U.S. governments information agency at 40 and the injured at 507.
According to Yoon Hee Kim special adviser to the mayor of Los Angeles about2300 Korean American owned business were damaged at an estimated cost of 350 million dollars. The number of businesses owned by people of Indian origin that were destroyed is put at 20 to 25. They said that President Bush was organizing relief and moving the justice department.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 29, 1992
