Earthquakes in Manhunting History

Okay, assuming everybody has recovered from yesterday's excitement, being of a one-track mind lately (no, not that track, thank you), yesterday's earth-shaking events reminded me of an incident that occurred towards the end of the Marines' pursuit of Augusto Sandino.

At 10:19AM on March 31, 1931, six weeks after Secretary of State Henry Stimson announced the withdrawal of all Marine units from Nicaragua by June 1, 1931, the earth opened up beneath Managua.  In two minutes a dozen tremors devastated the capitol, reducing a three-by-five-mile area to stones and ashes, including the American legation, which crumbled to its foundation. Only about a dozen buildings remained intact, and of the city’s population of 35,000, about 10 percent were injured, and nearly 2,000 were killed.  The casualties would have been dramatically higher, but most of Managua's residents had gone to the mountains or the seashore for the Holy Week.

The Marines and Guardia immediately sprung into action to rescue Nicaraguans trapped in the rubble and fight the fires threatening to engulf the city. Because the municipal hospital had collapsed, the injured were taken to the Marine field hospital on the Campo de Marte where Marine field kitchens fed the city until U.S. and Central American Red Cross personnel relieved them of duty. By April 4, Marine aviators had flown 92 relief and evacuation missions, carrying 21,196 pounds of supplies to the beleaguered city.

Conversely, Sandino -- who for years had portrayed himself as a patriotic liberator of the Nicaraguan people -- demonstrated no compassion for his dead countrymen. The earthquake, he declared, “clearly demonstrates to the doubters that divine gestures are guiding our actions in Nicaragua.” While the world’s attention was focused upon the tragedy in Managua, the Sandinistas launched an offensive in eastern Nicaragua, targeting the Standard Fruit Company’s holdings. A dozen of the company’s employees were killed, including eight Americans who were captured and beheaded, as were two British subjects mistaken for Yankees.