Humanitarian· Banana Wars
Managua Earthquake humanitarian relief
The largest Marine humanitarian effort of the Banana Wars, when the Corps turned from fighting to rescue.
On 31 March 1931 a devastating earthquake struck Managua, killing some two thousand people and leveling most of the city in moments, with fires breaking out among the ruins. The Marines of the brigade then in Nicaragua threw themselves at once into the relief, digging survivors from the wreckage, fighting the fires, tending the injured, distributing food, and keeping order in the shattered capital over the days that followed. No Marines were hurt in the work. It was a striking change of role for a force that had spent four years chasing Sandino's guerrillas through the northern mountains, and a reminder that the expeditionary Marine's duties ran well beyond combat. The Managua relief stood as the largest such humanitarian operation the Corps mounted during the long Banana Wars era.
Podcast episodes on Banana Wars
Record no. 506