1948 EARTHQUAKE IN ASHKHABAD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000500310011-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 17, 2009
• Sequence Number: 11
• Content Type: REPORT

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INFORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL -INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
C-0-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-'I-A-L-
COUNTRY
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
USSR (Turkmen SSR)
1948 Earthquake in Ashkhabad
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
[This is UNEVALUATED Information
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
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ARMY review completed.
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DEFECTOR RECEPTION CENTER
COUNTRY USSR
(Turkmen SSR)
DATE DISTR. 28 September
1955
NO. OF PAGES 5
SUBJECT 1948 Earthquake in Ashkhabad
DATE OF INFOR
PLACE ACQUIRE
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
X25 YEAR RE-REVIEW
CO T'IDEN IA
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Introduction
Described below is an account of the October 1948 earth
ni>lra nantared in the Ashkhabad area..
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.
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e'Ear qua a oc s 25X1
1. The earthquake was first felt during the night of 5 October 19480 and 25X1
the first strong shock came at 0200 hours. slept through this first
shock, but at 0700 hours a second and very strong shock 25X1
later heard from a radio broadcast that a reading of 8* or 9* had been re-
gistered on seismogra hs. At.first~ thought that the building had been
hit by an airplane. rushed out of the building and noticed that, except
for a badly damaged three-story building which was still standing nearby, ~. ~
the entire city seemed to be a leveled mass of rubble. 2. The populace was rushing about in complete panic. Some were shouting,
The atom, the atom, the war has already begun.' The chaos was intensi-
:tied when someone discovered water seeping up through the sandy soil and
spread the rumor that a torrent was rushing down from the mountains and
would engulf the city.
Initial Disaster. Relief
3, Some of the inhabitants tried to calm the rest of the panic stricken
populace. A large crowd gathered in the city square where some of the city
Communist Party leaders were trying to assure the inhabitants that there was
no cause for panic. This quieted the mob to an extent. The Party leaders
assured the mob that help would soon be forthcoming and that the people should
t
P
ar
y
first of all pitch in and help organize immediate disaster relief. The
loaders then hurriedly organized asnue teams and set up a headquarters of a
temporary nature in the square. 25X1
4. By the end of the first day, many officially inspired slogans were
painted throughout the town, onowalls, fences, etc., enjoining the people
not to believe the rumors of the panicky. In spite of a high degree of
hysteria and panic among the people, rescue operations began immediately.
Two large areas were designated as collecting points for the injured; one on
Karl Marx Square and the other at the city airport. that
at the airport thousands of injured were laid out on a layer made from
cotton bales. To add to the confusion, someone accidently set the cotton.
on fire, and many of the injured were burned before a fire truck was found
to put out the blaze.
5. Outside help was quick in arriving at the stricken city. Almost imme-
diately, planes began.to land by the hundreds, taking out the injured
hospitals in Baku, Tashkent, Mary (3735;,7N6200E) and Krasnovodsk (N 4003-
E--5310). These'air evacuation operations continued for several days.
Surviving troops, garrisoned in,the ci, itself, were organized almost
immediately, presumably by-the city government (Gorsovet), to direct
rescue operations and to provide security. Within 40 minutes following the
earthquake, a group of troops was dispa to guard the'bank and the
building which had housed the Gorsovet. the Gorsovet
building was one of the first places to have .a guard p ace around it because
it contained secret documents.
6. By the time guards had been placed at the bank, two of the bank
safes. had.already been looted. Despite the fact that rescue operations were
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just starting there, some looting had already taken place.
7. That same day unidentified troops from nearby casernes began to arrive
to help restore order and aid in the rescue operations. Some of the units
had tanks and bulldozers, which began to pull down badly dawageea buildings.
Other unidentified troops began to collect the dead. Large common graves
were bulldozed and also dug by hand in several places on the outskirts of
the city. Entire truckloads of dead were dumped into these common graves..
8. Other unidentified troops were assigned to bolster security for the
more important government and city buildings. However, there were insuffi-
cient troops to guard all buildings against lootings during the first few
days following the earthquake. The city police force was reorganized
primarily to restore order and to prevent looting, while the military were
supposed to handle the rescue operations. However, there were insufficient
police forces for the job and they had to be assisted by troops.
9. Looting began to snowball even while rescue operations were still going
on. Military troops took part openly in the looting, and the police force,
which could better hide the loot since its. members lived in town, looted
still more openly and flagrantly. The troops, on the trther?hand,'..-had no
place to hide their loot. Consequently, they limited themselves to taking
mostly food and drink and whatever they could hide.
10. The inhabitants were told that they were not to roam the streets dur- 25X1
ing the hours of darkness and printed notices to that effect were--tacked in
conspicuous places. heard all kinds of rifle firing during the
night. 0 assumed tat these came from guards who were firing at Aootere. 25X1
Col. Petrov_(fau), allegedly the son of General of the Army Petrov
and the military co ndant of the town, was very displeased with the lack
of order and even more displeased with the police force, which was doing
more looting than guarding. One night he allegedly met two city policemen
and caught them in the act of looting. In attempting to apprehend them 25X1
he was shot and killed'.
11? Jheaded for.
the ear, ac ng om na t._ almost immediately after the earthquake. A
group of soldiers there were knocking down the parts of the structure still
standing with the aid of a tank. In spite of the presence of troops, civilian
bystanders were busy looting all the food they could carry. In fact, some
of the soldiers were heaping food into the arms of the looters,
12. On the third day following the earth cake, set out 25X1
to loot some cigarettes. a lk year-o boy., was carrying off 25X1
some soap that he had taken rom a amage drug ore whpn hp wAA halted
by-a soldier who was guarding a large shop area. failed to 25X1
ialt and was shot in the leg. He lay there for some time a ore a was
finally carried, off to Karl Marx Square, where the injured were still being
collected. He died from loss of blood while at this Square.
13. Despite all efforts of the city police and the military to restore order,
final restoration of order was accomplished only about 10 days after the
earthquake. Order actually came about with no help from the troops or the
2ity police. The looters were satiated by about the tenth day, and the
looting ceased. Altogether, many people were killed while plundering and
looting during the 10 days of disorder following the earthquake. Those who
were not killed in the act of looting were apprehended and brought to trial. 25X1
The
commonly administered punishment wai 29 years - - --- - ---- -.
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Other Effects of Earthquake
14. For several days after the earthquake, many barnyard fowl and large numb-
ers of livestock wandered aimlessly around the city. Within a relatively
short time,however, these had all been slaughtered and hidden by individuals
as a store of food. Wild animals from the city zoo also wandered in the
streets until they were killed or driven to the mountains.
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15. Many of the inhabitants went out of their minds.
recall
ed one
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incident in particular, concerning the director of the hide factor
who had
lost his wife,,six children, and six other close relatives.
who
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had gone to the debris that had formerly been the city library a oot some
books, found this man there, surrounded by heaps of books which all per-
tained to the Mbrxist-Leninist philosophy. He was leafing through them, mut-
tering to himself, and quoting passages from these books oblivious of the
chaos about him. This man, obviously out of.his mind, sat here'for several
days before someone carted him away.
16. Although the survivors had been told that they could leave the city if
they wished, few actually did. Within two days the entire area had been
sealed off. Soldiers were posted all around the city, 20 meters apart from
each other, and they did not permit unauthorized persons to enter the city.
17. Survivors obtained drinking water from individual wells until military
personrael.had decontaminated.other sources of water supply which had corpses
in them. After order was restored,,a food rationing system was set up.
The inhabitants cheated on these rations, however. A head of a household
would claim a none-existent family member in order to get additional rations.
No attempt was made subsequently to recover looted items or falsely-claimed
rations.
Organization-of Reconstruction
~i~ii PPlpmgfpP P1plPipOPa~A APi9sO1P i ? _
-ti8. As reconstruction started, the Soviet government allegedly granted
10,000,000 rubles for disaster" relief. Shortly after order was restored,
unidentified military construction battalions and recruited civilian workers
began to move into the area. They set up tent communities outside the city.
Tents were also made available to the survivors by factory and institutional
directors, who were organized by theGorsovet to administer their employees.
19; The civilian workers , coming from all parts of the USSR, were re-
cruited for a two-year period to work on the reconstruction project. For
signing up, these workers received a bonus amounting to their monthly basic
wage scale. It was rumored.that so many volunteers flocked the area that
it was necessary to curtail work an the Main, Turkmen Canal. esti- 25X1
mated that at least 200,000 of them, volunteer and recruited, oc a to the
city to begin its reconstruction. In addition to these persons, 0 esti- 25X11
mated that a much larger nu ber"of soldiers were also used in the reconstruc-
tion work. Convict labor was also used.
20. In addition to the above persons, the survivors within the city also
worked for its reconstruction. The latter were organized in work brigades
and were assigned to certain common labor jobs, mainly rubble clearing.
They received pay for this. During their spare moments they were permitted
to work on the reconstruction of their own living quarters. The first prior-
ity in the reconstruction was to reestablish: the utilities and then to re-
build state buildings, factories, and institutions. As soon as a factory
was rebuilt, the former employees returned to 'Work.
21. Prior to the earthquake, As h1tha1 a'd had had a population of about a half
million. However, the city had. consisted *bstly Of one-story buildings,
mainly mud huts.. Very few buildings were higher than one story, these being
factories and state institutions. The tallest building was theMeat Packing
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Kombinat, which had been eight stories high.
22. Concerning the loss of life estimated that about half the popula 25X1
tion had been killed outright and that many more had died later as a result
of their injuries. 25X1
in two -rr ---,v .*crp vV++.aj+i is VGiJ/ t-GUU.f.14 1~1bA- .
years, but t ed very little from the old one. About 25X1
the only difference was that the city was a little more
sp ead-,out and a l i t t l e bit squatter. Schools which had formerly been two-
.stories high were now one story high, and in the entire city only the Gtor-
sevet building was higher than two stories, it being three stories high.
.Almost all the buildings were reconstructed.on the same foundations.
Earthquake Effects on Other Communities
The earthquake had apparently centered in Ashltlig
.
small villages around it did not suffer. The only other town that had
in Ira
n.
the Soviet --- ...*
government sent truck after truck of supplies to aid this town.
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