Time to lead a city out of the rubble

Nelson Mail editorial, April 19 2011
Saturday evening's sharp aftershock in Christchurch was the unnecessary rude reminder of how brittle the beleaguered city remains, but also of the cleft stick it is caught in. It desperately needs a return to some sort of stability, yet nature continues to deny it that. Meanwhile, the Government and its new Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) have been given unprecedented powers to ensure nothing stands in the way of their recipe for recovery, but in the process have raised profound fears about what might be trampled on in the process.
Those powers are so sweeping as to be almost incomprehensible - although perhaps Cantabrians have had a hint of them with the state of national emergency which has allowed Civil Defence to wield control since February 22. Its performance has been mixed: it led an often heroic rescue effort but also sparked widespread alarm around its willingness to engage with the people left hamstrung by the quake's immediate aftermath.
While everybody understands and accepts the need for those charged with the recovery to be able to tackle it without unnecessary impediment, it soon emerged that one bureaucrat's idea of necessity can quickly become another citizen's version of tyranny. The prospect of that tension being amplified throughout the city as Cera enforces its new remit is sobering in the extreme.
The despair of Christchurch people whose homes, jobs, mental health and security are precarious is distressing to behold. It should be beyond dispute that responding to this is the single-biggest priority for Cera and all the other bodies which have some part to play in the recovery and rebuilding project.
While nothing can be done about the continuing aftershocks - the worst of which, like Saturday's, revive the physical threats like liquefaction and rockfall as well as snap taut nerves - people badly need hope, starting with a clear message that deadlocks in the decision-making are being broken. It remains hard to escape the sense that for all the sweeping decisions and powers now being arrayed, clear, frank, consistent and reliable communication is the missing ingredient.
The style of those in power has not exactly helped in this regard. Most prominently the Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee's somewhat bumptious and impatient manner is a source of unnecessary controversy. Whatever his qualities, he has not proved himself an easy politician to warm to. Nobody can expect a politician leading such a massive effort to provide a shoulder for anyone and everyone to cry on, but at a time of such immense crisis, some personal empathy and humanity would go a long way.
Now he and his new agency have all the tools any politician or bureaucrat could ever dream of, it is time for them to start engaging with a badly-frazzled community. Among the vast range of tasks before them, the leaders and their staffs must demonstrate that they are not about to impose dictatorship; and will speak frequently, coherently and honestly to the people whose futures are on the line. That's their challenge. It is not just Christchurch which must pray they are up to it.