Thousands of housing units destroyed, with tens of thousands of Angelenos forced out of their homes and apartments. Tens of billions of dollars in damages and economic losses. Fears of looting prompting law enforcement crackdowns, including bringing in the National Guard. Concerns that there could still be more damage from the natural disaster.

This could describe the unfolding aftermath of this month’s devastating fires that swept through Pacific Palisades and Altadena. But it also describes the aftermath of another major natural disaster to hit the Los Angeles area: the January 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The 6.7-magnitude quake that struck at 4:31 a.m. on Jan. 17 left at least 82,000 residential units and commercial establishments damaged or destroyed, temporarily or permanently displacing roughly 125,000 residents. The damage toll was put at more than $20 billion, with another $40 billion in economic losses (for a total of about $125 billion in 2024 dollars).

It took the region more than two years to recover from that quake, thanks in large part to the infusion of more than $11 billion in federal funds (about $25 billion in today’s dollars) from the administration of then-President Bill Clinton.

“The damage figures from that quake (as adjusted for inflation) are remarkably similar to the figures we’re hearing today,” said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beverly Grove-based Beacon Economics.

Indeed, as of Jan. 15, a total of 7,700 structures had been confirmed damaged or destroyed between the Eaton and Palisades fires, with estimates that ultimately more than 12,000 structures would be found damaged or destroyed. Damage and economic loss estimates have ranged between $100 billion and $150 billion.

But Thornberg noted several key differences.

“The damage from the Northridge quake was spread throughout the region, though maybe concentrated more in some places than in others,” he said. “Here, the damage is very localized to Altadena and the Palisades,” he said, though he noted the level of destruction in those communities is far worse than any neighborhood suffered in the quake.

Thornberg was optimistic about the chances for rebuilding the devastated communities.

“For the most part, the people in these communities have the ability to rebuild, unlike in New Orleans after (Hurricane) Katrina where many residents didn’t have clear title to the land and couldn’t rebuild,” he said.

As for federal assistance, Thornberg said he is not expecting as much proportionately as came in following the Northridge quake. First, he said, the type of damage is different. With the exception of some schools, most of the damage from the fires is to private properties, which means the ability to obtain insurance payouts will be paramount. The Northridge quake also caused significant infrastructure damage, most notably the collapse of a portion of the 10 Freeway; Thornberg said that is the type of damage most suitable for federal funds.

Also, Thornberg said, unlike in the mid-1990s when the Clinton administration was fully on board with recovery efforts, there’s uncertainty now over the level of federal aid that will come in under a Republican-controlled Congress and now President Donald Trump, who was sworn in today.

Indeed, last week, Republican leaders in Congress were talking about attaching conditions to aid dollars that would be unpalatable to officials in California and Los Angeles, while Trump was blaming Democrats for causing the fires.