The United States has yet to provide significant assistance, with its response lagging far behind China, Russia and India, which have rushed emergency teams and supplies to Myanmar after the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
Even as President Donald Trump continued dismantling the US agency for international development (USAID), he assured that American help was on the way after the earthquake struck Myanmar’s densely populated central region on Friday, leaving more than 1,700 dead. As per the country’s military government, the death toll is expected to rise further.
Despite Trump’s statement, the US response has been slow. A three-person USAID assessment team is not expected to arrive in Myanmar until Wednesday, sources familiar with the deployment efforts told the New York Times. People with experience in past disaster relief missions said that the delay is unusual and a stark contrast to previous US aid responses.
Meanwhile, China has already deployed search-and-rescue teams to Mandalay, one of the worst-hit areas, and has pledged $14 million in aid.
On Sunday, the US embassy in Myanmar announced that the country would provide up to $2 million in humanitarian assistance, to be distributed through aid groups operating in the quake struck nation. However, many key systems required to channel this aid have been severely disrupted by the disaster.
The situation has been further complicated by ongoing layoffs within USAID. On Friday, as officials in Washington worked to coordinate a response, some received agency-wide layoff notices and were told to go home that afternoon, among whom were employees liaising with aid missions in Bangkok and Manila.
Two of those affected had been preparing to relocate to Yangon and Bangkok this winter to serve as humanitarian assistance advisers at US missions in the region. Had those positions not been cut, they would have been on the ground, playing a crucial role in organising the U.S. relief effort.
Following the earthquake, the US embassy in Yangon sent an urgent cable to USAID headquarters in Washington to assess needs and initiate aid distribution. A day later, Tim Meisburger, a Trump administration political appointee at USAID, held a call with national security officials to discuss a response plan. However, Meisburger reportedly warned that, while assistance would be provided, expectations should be tempered.
No one should expect the agency’s capabilities to be what they were in the past, he said, according to a source with direct knowledge of the discussion.
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