Kiwis are well used to earthquakes. Two large tectonic plates meet and divide our country. Seen in Trumpian terms, however, we are geological ‘losers’. Today is one of those days when the losers are being put in a situation where we either come together and act for our survival, or succumb to despair.
Here are my two reflections on today’s earthquake which, for progressives over here, feels like a second blow in an already bad week for our world. We need functioning governments and we need hopeful communities.
First, these are the moments which remind us why, even in highly neoliberalised countries like New Zealand, we need strong functioning governments. The main earthquake struck just after midnight, triggering secondary quakes along a long stretch of the great fault-lines running through New Zealand. It was a classic scenario for a major tsunami event (which, thankfully, never materialized). New Zealand’s Civil Defence service (our equivalent to FEMA) swung into action, and over the next hours, thousands of people in low-lying coastal regions on New Zealand’s eastern coastline were evacuated. Evacuation sites were rapidly identified, halls and community buildings became inland shelters, and we watched a constant feed of smartphone video as Kiwis (the people not the fruit!), wrapped in their sleeping bags, took shelter together a safe distance back from the coast. As that threat is now passing, Civil Defence has undertaken a rapid evaluation of the safety of roading, railways and has closed the centre of Wellington due to the threat of building collapse. Much of central New Zealand is now being carefully managed by Civil Defence, Police and community volunteer organisations. While I am not a big fan of our current government (somewhat Centre/Right, but maybe now not so bad in comparison to my friends in the US), I appreciate living in a country where politicians of every stripe take natural hazards and disasters seriously, plan and budget for Civil Defence to work well, and always respond in a bi-partisan way when these things happen.
Second, we need communities. The evacuation of coastal New Zealand was coordinated by Civil Defence but actually relied on thousands of volunteers responding to the CD request to check on neighbours (my elderly parents live in one of the affected areas and were checked and assisted by neighbours through the night). In the inland rural areas where government services are less available, rural communities have been moblising. Rural areas have older housing and this is where at least one fatality has happened. Neighbours have been checking and pulling people from collapsed houses, and in the upcoming days we know that many rural communities that will have no road access and power for a long time to come will have to help each other. News that three houses have been looted (seriously, only three?) has been met with outrage and donations are already coming in from the wider community to help those affected.
I am also reminded that we live in other communities of action that are peculiarly characteristic of the 21st Century. Via social media, my friends and family from around the world have been checking in through the night. One of my friends near the epicentre of the quake has been pluckily sending out facebook updates letting us know that she and her family are getting through the night. We live in an amazingly enhanced time for the creation of global-scale community.
In these moments, like other kinds of crisis, our morale and hope for the future seems to rest on the ability of communities to come together, take action and help.
New Zealand is one of the most neoliberalised countries in the world, something that progressives have been trying to change for three decades now, but it is at crisis moments like this that even our most ideological right wing in NZ politics is forced to realize that we need government, that the market can’t meet all our needs and solve all our problems, that there are many, many social services that cannot and must not be privatized, and that security comes from strong communities not a large army. Our Prime Minister has been visible, but has stood back to let Civil Defence, local mayors and other community leaders be the prominent voices coordinating responses (and I can’t say that I often approve of his actions, but today… OK). At these times of crisis, we need collaboration and communities of action — not a despotic voice saying that he has all the answers (what would Trump have said: ‘Earthquakes are a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese, so buy some Trump-branded disaster kits?”).
Hope has gathered in small community halls all over New Zealand as evacuees wait for the full light of day to reveal how much their houses are damaged, find lost pets and help those around them who need assistance. This is how we face an uncertain future. Together, supporting each other, resilient, holding on to the fundamental things that tell us that society is good, and that we can re-build after whatever (real or political) earthquake has struck.