Operazione White Crane Explained

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 ^[3]
  • Cavours complement:
    • 6 Navy helicopters^{[2] [3]}
      • 4 SH-3D helicopters
      • 2 EH-101 helicopters
    • two operating theatres^[3]
    • 550 ship's crew, medical complement, force protection sailors^{[2] [3]}
  • Shipped on Cavour: (Task Force Genio)
    • 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^[4]
    • Air Force personnel^[3]
    • Carabinieri military police 13° RGT. "F.G.V."^{[2] [3]}
    • Carabinieri medical unit^[2]
    • mobile hospital^[2]
    • 200 tonnes of food
• Field hospital
• C-130

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.^[5]

On 19 January 2010, Cavour set sail for Haiti, leaving La Spezia.^{[3] [6] [7]}

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^[8]), 11 civilians (6 doctors, 5 nurses), 63 military (25 health professionals).^[9]

On 1 February 2010, Cavour arrived at the Dominican Republic port of Puerto Caucedo, near the capital of Santo Domingo.^[10] The land element, Task Force Genio,^[11] disembarked, and would trek overland to Haiti, due to the damaged docks at Port-au-Prince. Cavour has RO-RO capability.^[12] It would depart for Haiti later.^[13]

On 3 February 2010, Cavour had disgorged all the land-mobile land-element.^[14] The overland trip to Port-au-Prince from Puerto Caucedo took 36 hours.^[15]

On 6 February 2010, Cavour arrived at Port-au-Prince.^[16]

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.^[8]

Cavour had remain docked at Port-au-Prince through mid-April.^[17]

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.^[18]

Notes and References

1. ANSA, "Portaerei Cavour, gli aiuti per Haiti", 4 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
2. Bruxelles2, "Le porte-avions italien Cavour en route vers Haïti", Nicolas Gros-Verheyde, 26 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
3. Defense News, "Italian Carrier Cavour Heads to Haiti", Tom Kington, 18 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
4. 2nd engineering regiment of Trento
5. Marine Marchande, "Haïti: l'Italie envisage l'envoi d'un navire militaire (ministre)", AFP, 15 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
6. Mediapolitika, "Haiti, la terra trema: migliaia fra morti e senza tetto. Berlusconi invia Bertolaso", Lucia Varasano, 22 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
7. 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)
8. Il Velino, "Haiti, continua l'impegno dei militari italiani", 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
9. Nam News Network, "Italian Aircraft Carrier with Brazilian Volunteers to aid Haiti", Xinhua, 29 January 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
10. Il Messaggero, "Haiti, arrivata la portaerei Cavour Gli Usa riprendono evacuazione feriti", 1 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
11. Qui News, '“Portaerei Cavour” supporto logistico a 24 ore di viaggio', Carmelo Sorbera, 23 February 2010 (accessed 23 February 2010)
12. RO-RO = roll-on, roll-off – similar to a ferry, where you can drive on and drive off again
13. Cronaca, "Haiti: portaerei Cavour attracca a Puerto Caucedo", Adnkronos, 3 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)
14. Virgilio, "Scaricato dalla Cavour tutto il materiale", APCOM, 4 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
15. Panorama Brasil, "Haitianos feridos em terremoto chegam à Itália", Voltar, 8 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
16. Terra News, "Continuate ad aiutarci Haiti rischia l’oblio", Floriana Bulfon, 7 February 2010 (accessed 9 February 2010)
17. Tandem, "Strengthening ties with Italo communities", Paola Bernardini, 14 March 2010 (accessed 30 March 2010)
18. L'Occidentale, "L'intervento italiano ad Haiti: portaerei, terremotati e sterili polemiche", Gianandrea Gaiani, 6 February 2010 (accessed 6 February 2010)