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Operazione White Crane[1] (Operation White Crane) is Italy's military relief operation for Haiti, following the 12 January 2010 earthquake.[2]

Force composition[]

Cavour (550)

Aircraft carrier Cavour

Italy is sending:

  • aircraft carrier Cavour[3]
    • Cavour's complement:
      • 6 Navy helicopters[2][3]
      • two operating theatres[3]
      • 550 ship's crew, medical complement, force protection sailors[2][3]
    • Shipped on Cavour: (Task Force Genio[5])
      • 15 Army tracked vehicles[2][3]
      • 20 Army wheeled vehicles[2][3]
      • 5 mobile medical vehicles[2]
      • Army personnel[3]
        • 200 alpine troops of the 2° reggimento Genio di Trento[NB 1][6]
      • Air Force personnel[3]
      • Carabinieri military police[2][3]
      • Carabinieri medical unit[2]
      • mobile hospital[2]
      • 200 tonnes of food[4]
  • 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 24 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 is expected to 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[]

  1. 2nd engineering regiment of Trento
  2. RO-RO = roll-on, roll-off -- similar to a ferry, where you can drive on and drive off again

References[]

  1. (Italian) ANSA, "Portaerei Cavour, gli aiuti per Haiti", 4 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 (French) Bruxelles2, "Le porte-avions italien Cavour en route vers Haïti", Nicolas Gros-Verheyde, 26 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Defense News, "Italian Carrier Cavour Heads to Haiti", Tom Kington, 18 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 (Italian) Il Messaggero, "Haiti, arrivata la portaerei Cavour Gli Usa riprendono evacuazione feriti", 1 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  5. 5.0 5.1 (Italian) Qui News, '“Portaerei Cavour” supporto logistico a 24 ore di viaggio', Carmelo Sorbera, 23 February 2010 (accessed 23 February 2010)
  6. 6.0 6.1 (Italian) L'Occidentale, "L'intervento italiano ad Haiti: portaerei, terremotati e sterili polemiche", Gianandrea Gaiani, 6 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 (French) Marine Marchande, "Haïti: l'Italie envisage l'envoi d'un navire militaire (ministre)", AFP, 15 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  8. (Italian) Mediapolitika, "Haiti, la terra trema: migliaia fra morti e senza tetto. Berlusconi invia Bertolaso", Lucia Varasano, 22 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  9. (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)
  10. 10.0 10.1 (Italian) Il Velino, "Haiti, continua l'impegno dei militari italiani", 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
  11. Nam News Network, "Italian Aircraft Carrier with Brazilian Volunteers to aid Haiti", Xinhua, 29 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  12. (Italian) Cronaca, "Haiti: portaerei Cavour attracca a Puerto Caucedo", Adnkronos, 3 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
  13. (Italian) Virgilio, "Scaricato dalla Cavour tutto il materiale", APCOM, 4 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
  14. (Portuguese) Panorama Brasil, "Haitianos feridos em terremoto chegam à Itália", Voltar, 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
  15. (Italian) Terra News, "Continuate ad aiutarci Haiti rischia l’oblio", Floriana Bulfon, 7 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
  16. Tandem, "Strengthening ties with Italo communities", Paola Bernardini, 14 March 2010 (accessed 30 March 2010)
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Operation White Crane and the edit history here.
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