Trump’s U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Hobble Earthquake Response in Myanmar

Picture: Rescue workers carrying a victim trapped under a destroyed condominium building in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Sunday | Sai Aung Main/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In an article by The New York Times, Hannah Beech and Edward Wong argue that the United States’ delayed and diminished response to the Myanmar earthquake highlights the consequences of budget cuts and restructuring at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Trump administration, which has weakened America's ability to provide timely humanitarian aid.

Even as President Trump was dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, he said that American help was on its way to Myanmar, where a 7.7-magnitude earthquake ripped through the country’s heavily populated center on Friday. More than 1,700 people were killed, according to Myanmar’s military government, with the death toll expected to climb steeply as more bodies are uncovered in the rubble and rescue teams reach remote villages.

But a three-person U.S.A.I.D. assessment team is not expected to arrive until Wednesday, people with knowledge of the deployment efforts said. The overall American response has been slower than under normal circumstances, people who have worked on earlier disaster relief efforts as well as on aid to Myanmar said.

Chinese search-and-rescue teams, complete with dogs trained to sniff out trapped people, are already on the ground in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city and one of the places most deeply affected by the quake. China has pledged $14 million for Myanmar quake relief, sending 126 rescue workers and six dogs, along with medical kits, drones and earthquake detectors.

“Being charitable and being seen as charitable serves American foreign policy,” said Michael Schiffer, the assistant administrator of the U.S.A.I.D. bureau for Asia from 2022 until earlier this year. “If we don’t show up and China shows up, that sends a pretty strong message.”