HILO, Hawai'i — The damage to the oldest pier at Kawaihae Harbor from the Oct. 15 earthquakes was so extensive that it may make sense to replace the structure, a step that would significantly increase the cost of the Big Island's earthquake recovery effort.

Ian Birnie, harbormaster for the Big Island, said he believes the initial estimate that the harbor suffered $5 million in damage is too low, and will eventually turn out to be "considerably more" whether or not the damaged Pier 1 has to be entirely replaced.

"You can't Band-Aid this, you can't just repair it. I think you have to do some major work on it," he said.

Birnie told the Big Island County Council yesterday that portions of the 477-foot Pier 1 where barges normally tie up are so severely damaged that they cannot be used for mooring.

"I think it will probably be better if we tore it out and started over, because we have some pretty serious damage. We won't know how bad it is until we take things apart," he said.

Birnie said he does not know how much it would cost to rebuild the pier.

Estimates of damage to schools, roads, businesses and other public facilities from the Oct. 15 earthquakes have topped $100 million. That does not include a tally of damage to homes by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which as of Saturday found 153 homes that suffered major damage, and 1,484 that had minor damage.

The council yesterday also received a new estimate on damage to county parks facilities of more than $5 million. Hardest hit were the Ikuo Hisaoka Gym, which suffered $1 million in damage and the Keokea Beach Park, which suffered $1.5 million in damage. The council heard a new estimate of damage to county roads that totaled more than $3 million and a new estimate to state highways on the Big Island that totaled more than $37 million.

County officials also told the council yesterday that inspectors have "red-tagged" 61 homes and churches, meaning they are unsafe to occupy, and issued 161 yellow tags that indicate portions of a structure cannot be occupied.

PRAISE FOR COUNCIL

Big Island Mayor Harry Kim offered high praise for the state and county crews who responded to the disaster, telling the County Council that workers across the island responded without being called.

"These are the people behind me that knew their jobs, and knew their responsibilities, and came forth," Kim said. "As arrogant as it may sound, on earthquake response, there isn't a place in the entire United States, in the entire world, that could have done it better than the people back here.

"If it sounds like I'm bragging, I am bragging."

After a briefing on the earthquake and the response to it, the Big Island County Council yesterday unanimously approved an emergency bill to waive building permit fees for people who are repairing earthquake damage.

The measure would also temporarily waive requirements for certain documentation for people who are applying for permits to repair earthquake damage.

County officials also urged residents who suffered damage from the earthquakes to apply for property tax relief. The county will reassess property damaged in the disaster and reduce the owners' tax bills accordingly.

Engineering reports on the damage at Pier 1 have not yet been completed, and "we're still trying to understand if this is going to be able to hold heavy cargo," said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

SUPERFERRY UNAFFECTED

Inspections showed the concrete has cracks on three sides around the bollards — the large posts where barges tie up — and some of those fractures are wide enough that inspectors could look inside and see broken rebar deep in the cracks, Birnie said.

Pier 1 is the area of Kawaihae to be set aside for the use of the Superferry, but Birnie said that even if the state decides to reconstruct the pier, that should not affect Superferry operations.

John Garibaldi, president and chief executive officer of Hawai'i Superferry Inc., said his agreement with the state does not call for him to provide Superferry service at Kawaihae until late 2008 or early 2009, which gives the state time to make improvements without interfering with the Superferry operations.

If the state does replace the pier, Garibaldi said he hopes his firm will be among the businesses that are invited to offer suggestions for improvements.

The 477-foot Pier 1 is normally used to import cement and export cattle, and harbor officials have set up an improvised mooring system that will allow them to use pumps to offload a critically needed barge load of cement at the pier today, Birnie said.

Birnie said the cement storage silos at the harbor is now empty, but there was no guarantee the Hawaiian Cement shipment can be successfully offloaded.

The improvised system for unloading cement "may work when the weather's calm, but it's probably not going to work when we get that winter surge that we have in there," Birnie said.

DAMAGED PIERS

So far, Pier 1 and Pier 2A have remained closed, and Birnie said the concrete slab that makes up Pier 2A needs to be patched from underneath. Birnie said that sort of concrete work normally requires a 30-day period to completely harden, which means the pier likely will be out of commission for some time.

Shippers Matson Navigation and Young Brothers have been sharing space on Pier 2B, but have been able to operate, Birnie said.

Also severely damaged in the earthquakes was a system for offloading gasoline on the north end of Pier 2 that was used by Mid Pac Petroleum. The company will now have to move that fuel through Hilo harbor, Birnie said.

Sheds at Pier 2A and Pier 1 are both slated to be torn down and moved, he said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.