this USA Announcing one of the strongest responses to natural disasters in recent years, pledging major aid to earthquake-stricken areas and deploying rescue teams Venezuela.
What assistance has the United States provided to Venezuela?
Speaking to the media during a trip to the Gulf, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly promised, “We’re going to have a whole-of-government response. It’s going to be big, it’s going to be fast, and it’s going to be effective.” NPR.
The U.S. effort includes committing $150 million to faith-based aid organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse and Catholic Relief Services, as well as two United Nations agencies, the World Food Program and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The United States also deployed an Assistant Disaster Response Team and two search and rescue teams from Virginia and California to help find survivors.
The Virginia team had 80 people and 6 dogs, and california The team includes 70 people and 6 dogs. As some of Venezuela’s airport infrastructure has been damaged, the Pentagon has also been assigned to help U.S. government workers and critical supplies enter the country, National Public Radio reported.
How the U.S. response to Venezuela differs from Myanmar
Experts say the U.S. response to the earthquake in Venezuela was very different from the Trump administration’s response to the March 2025 earthquake in Myanmar that killed more than 3,500 people.
According to NPR, the United States sent $9 million in aid and three officials to Myanmar to assess the damage, but no search and rescue teams. Meanwhile, China provided $137 million in aid.
“This clearly reflects some of the lessons,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and former head of disaster response at the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Obama administration. [the administration] Lessons learned after the failed deployment of a search and rescue team to Myanmar. “
He added, “There was a time last year when they lost the ability to deploy search and rescue teams during DOGE’s operation to destroy USAID. It was very obvious and very embarrassing,” according to NPR.
The State Department has since rehired some former USAID humanitarian responders and reinstated contracts with organizations that provide disaster assistance, including search and rescue teams, NPR reported.
Also read: Who is Hector Bello’s wife? Andrea Bello died protecting her children in Venezuela earthquake
The Trump administration also said it would focus aid on countries important to U.S. geopolitical interests. The government also invested in Venezuela after the overthrow of authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.
Cesar Jimenez, a Venezuelan national who manages the response for the country’s aid group Project Hope, said the losses in Venezuela were “very, very severe.”
According to NPR, after visiting two medical facilities in La Guaira, near the epicenter of the second earthquake, Jimenez said: “They were completely collapsed. We saw people lying on the ground, without beds, being evaluated by health personnel. We saw about 200 people in a small medical facility asking for help.”
