Operazione White Crane[1] (Operation White Crane) was Italy's military relief operation for Haiti, following the 12 January 2010 earthquake.[2]
Force composition
Italy is sending:
- aircraft carrier Cavour[3]
- Cavour's complement:
- Shipped on Cavour: (Task Force Genio[5])
- Field hospital[7]
- C-130[7]
Mission timeline
On 14 January 2010, Italy dispatched a C-130 loaded with 20 surgeons, some soldiers, some civil protection officers, and a field hospital. It decided to send a warship.[7]
On 19 January 2010, Cavour set sail for Haiti, leaving La Spezia.[3][8][9]
As of 29 January 2010, Cavour had picked up a Brazilian relief force at Fortaleza. The Brazilians added two helicopters, a UH-14 Super Puma and a UH-12 Squirrel (AS350[10]), 11 civilians (6 doctors, 5 nurses), 63 military (25 health professionals).[11]
On 1 February 2010, Cavour arrived at the Dominican Republic port of Puerto Caucedo, near the capital of Santo Domingo.[4] The land element, Task Force Genio,[5] disembarked, and would trek overland to Haiti, due to the damaged docks at Port-au-Prince. Cavour has RO-RO capability.[NB 2] It would depart for Haiti later.[12]
On 3 February 2010, Cavour had disgorged all the land-mobile land-element.[13] The overland trip to Port-au-Prince from Puerto Caucedo took 36 hours.[14]
On 6 February 2010, Cavour arrived at Port-au-Prince.[15]
As of 7 February 2010, over 25 aid flights using the Italian and Brazilian helicopters over the two days that Cavour had been at Port-au-Prince, had been completed.[10]
Cavour had remain docked at Port-au-Prince through mid-April.[16]
Reactions
Several Italians have criticized the use of Cavour since it costs over 200,000 Euros a day to operate, and shipping by air would have been far faster. Others have said, that it is a drop in the bucket compared to the efforts by the US. Some have pointed out, it is one of the largest efforts out of Europe.[6]
Notes
References
- ↑ (in Italian) ANSA, "Portaerei Cavour, gli aiuti per Haiti", 4 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (in French) Bruxelles2, "Le porte-avions italien Cavour en route vers Haïti", Nicolas Gros-Verheyde, 26 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Defense News, "Italian Carrier Cavour Heads to Haiti", Tom Kington, 18 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- 1 2 3 4 (in Italian) Il Messaggero, "Haiti, arrivata la portaerei Cavour Gli Usa riprendono evacuazione feriti", 1 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- 1 2 (in Italian) Qui News, '“Portaerei Cavour” supporto logistico a 24 ore di viaggio', Carmelo Sorbera, 23 February 2010 (accessed 23 February 2010)
- 1 2 (in Italian) L'Occidentale, "L'intervento italiano ad Haiti: portaerei, terremotati e sterili polemiche", Gianandrea Gaiani, 6 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- 1 2 3 (in French) Marine Marchande, "Haïti: l'Italie envisage l'envoi d'un navire militaire (ministre)", AFP, 15 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- ↑ (in Italian) Mediapolitika, "Haiti, la terra trema: migliaia fra morti e senza tetto. Berlusconi invia Bertolaso", Lucia Varasano, 22 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- ↑ (in Italian) LRNews, "Haiti. La Cavour in rotta verso Haiti con il contingente della missione umanitaria italo-brasiliana", Ferdinando Pelliccia, 29 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- 1 2 (in Italian) Il Velino, "Haiti, continua l'impegno dei militari italiani", 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
- ↑ Nam News Network, "Italian Aircraft Carrier with Brazilian Volunteers to aid Haiti" Archived 26 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Xinhua, 29 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- ↑ (in Italian) Cronaca, "Haiti: portaerei Cavour attracca a Puerto Caucedo", Adnkronos, 3 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
- ↑ (in Italian) Virgilio, "Scaricato dalla Cavour tutto il materiale", APCOM, 4 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
- ↑ (in Portuguese) Panorama Brasil, "Haitianos feridos em terremoto chegam à Itália", Voltar, 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
- ↑ (in Italian) Terra News, "Continuate ad aiutarci Haiti rischia l’oblio", Floriana Bulfon, 7 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
- ↑ Tandem, "Strengthening ties with Italo communities", Paola Bernardini, 14 March 2010 (accessed 30 March 2010)