From "World of the Chernyi: Going Home" by D. K. Richardson

Noah, a survivor of the conditions in Capital City, talks with Martha, one
of Jake's Recondo crew...

"Look Martha.  The city, before," he paused, then continued, "was over a million people.  You include everything from Ring City to the south, Parker
to the extreme north and going east - say, until you hit the flats.  Well, that number almost doubles.  Parts of the city were damn near a war zone -
or at least a continuous slow-motion riot even before this.  Let's be honest
with ourselves, this city was badly broken long before this Chërnyi, as you
call it, came along.  You and the PMA will not be able to put it back together.  There is really nothing to put together."

Martha was impressed; Noah had clearly given this a lot of thought.  "What do you think we should do then, Noah?"

He shook his head.  "I don't really know, Martha.  Triage, maybe.  Salvage - if not."  He looked up, "I have an old car radio I rigged up where I am staying.  You can hear a lot at night.  Some places seem to be getting it back together, the places with farmland nearby, some kind of energy sources, mostly.  I haven't heard anything from east of the Mississippi since I started listening to my radio. "