Nigel A. Raab. All Shook Up: The Shifting Soviet Response to Catastrophes, 1917–1991.
Journal: The American Historical Review
Year: 2018

Earthquakes rumbled along the south of the Soviet empire: in Crimea in September 1927, Ashgabat in October 1948, Tashkent in April 1966, and Armenia in December 1988. Such disasters elicited an amalgam of authoritarian and willful responses from state and society, as people and resources were mobilized to assist victims and rebuild infrastructure. In many cases the reactions to disasters were surprisingly effective. At other times, such as during the double whammy of the explosion at the Chernob