Christchurch, NZ mayor Bob Parker, on the aftermath of the earthquake:
The biggest issue for us is that it shattered a large amount of the infrastructure that the city relies on, so the water and waste water pipes running through the city - we're checking the bridges, we're checking the roads. Although at first sight a number of the more modern buildings looked completely untouched, we found a few bits of damage that concern us....
We've got a number of displaced people in areas where there are problems around water, so we're putting in welfare stations around the city....
After the terrors of the early hours of the morning, people are outside, checking on neighbors.... The chimney's fallen down, broken possessions, bookcases tipped over, houses moved off foundations, and it's that ongoing repair, finding the damage, which is the big issue for us now. So structural engineers are being brought in from around the country....
The waste water, the sewer system is currently not functioning, the power cuts, which means pumping stations aren't working, pipes are broken - we need to be able to move quickly and effectively with a minimum of fuss to minimize the problems that people in the city currently are facing...
No militarized police forces brought in from another region to shoot hungry, desperate people on bridges. No foisting off the problems onto someone else to take care of. No abandoning citizens to their own devices in the midst of emergency. No leaving things to "the market" to get fixed. No shrugging off responsibility to someone else to take care of the citizenry. No blaming people for not having prepared by using their own resources to stave off disaster. No leaving them on their own to face the consequences if they haven't. No shock doctrine applied to hand public schools and people's homes over to well-connected developers.
That's what government is supposed to do and to be. And, hello! this is the way government works in other advanced democratic nations, where people do not regard government as an enemy they need to arm themselves to the teeth against, but as a function of themselves, the people, to act for them and serve their needs.
OK, normality interlude over. Back to American civic life now.