5.0 QUAKE SHAKES SHELVES, BUT DAMAGES LITTLE.

Byline: Alicia Doyle and Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writers

Saturday morning's magnitude-5.0 aftershock of the Northridge Earthquake was stronger in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks than in many other areas, bringing back horrifying memories, but doing little damage.

``It was a doozy,'' said Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton, ``but by the time I completely woke up, it was all over.''

The 3:37 a.m. temblor centered about seven miles north-northeast of Simi Valley rocked bottles off shelves at stores in Santa Clarita and Simi Valley and damaged the ceiling of a Kmart store in the Santa Clarita area.

The Simi Valley Police and Ventura County Fire departments sent units to check damage to freeway bridges, electrical lines and other major infrastructures, said Simi Valley police Sgt. Randy Foushee, but found nothing serious.

``It was a pretty good jolt. I can't explain why we haven't seen any damage,'' Foushee said.

Richard Slowikowski, the manager of Kmart on Tierra Rejada Road, was relieved to find only a few bottles on the floor when he arrived at work Saturday morning.

``I was worried at first,'' said Slowikowski, who slept through the temblor in his home about 70 miles east of Simi Valley in La Verne. ``But when I arrived, there was nothing to worry about.''

Sheriff's and fire officials in the Santa Clarita Valley reported no significant problems in the wake of the Saturday morning temblor, other than plenty of jangled nerves and wailing burglar alarms.

``A lot of people called us. A lot of alarms were set off, but nobody reported damage or injuries,'' said Sgt. Barry Sandstrom of the sheriff's Santa Clarita Valley station.

A Kmart store on Valencia Boulevard was empty - except for a cleaning crew - when the temblor struck, said merchandise manager Richard Legg. ``Nobody got hurt. I'm sure they were probably scared,'' he said.

``We had some ceiling tiles that came loose, and odds and ends of merchandise fell off the shelves, but nothing major,'' Legg said.

Capt. Bill Apodaca of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, who works in the Santa Clarita area, lives in Simi Valley.

``I was sound asleep and there was a rumble,'' said Apodaca, who reported to work at Fire Station 73 in Newhall later Saturday morning.

The quake, he said, ``seemed to go on for 10 seconds'' and set off a chorus of ``animals stirring and barking'' in the neighborhood.

The Apodaca home wasn't covered by earthquake insurance when the Jan. 17, 1994, disaster struck. ``We still have damage from the Northridge Earthquake that we haven't totally repaired,'' the captain said, citing the fireplace as his biggest concern.

In the interim, his home still isn't covered by quake insurance. ``This morning, when it was shaking, I thought `Doggone, maybe I should have made a better effort to get it,' '' Apodaca said.

Sandstrom said the sheriff's station received numerous phone calls from people worried about elderly Santa Clarita Valley residents. ``We got a lot of calls from people outside the valley asking us to check on relatives,'' he said.

Firefighters and deputies in Santa Clarita also patrolled the valley in search of damage at public utilities, schools, government buildings, roads and bridges but found none.