US leads Venezuela earthquake response with $300 million in humanitarian aid

Aftershocks continue to rattle Venezuela three days after two massive earthquakes struck the state of La Guaira, with more than 1,700 people confirmed dead as of Monday afternoon and more than 50,000 still missing.

Rescue teams are still pulling people from the rubble as the United States drives the disaster response effort.

The Trump administration announced Monday it was boosting its humanitarian aid funding to more than $300 million. The US had already pledged $150 million to faith-based aid groups within the first 24 hours of the disaster.

“This response has been historic from the outset. The U.S. has provided a substantial amount of money, $150 million within the first 24 hours. They’ve deployed four search and rescue teams and have a very heavy Department of Defense presence on the ground,” Sam Vigersky, an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a leading expert on US disaster assistance response, told Scripps News.

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More than 300 US personnel are currently on the ground, including search and rescue teams from Los Angeles and Fairfax, along with military personnel and FEMA.

Vigersky said the stakes are high given the Trump administration’s ousting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and dismantling of USAID, which oversaw much of US foreign aid.

“They feel enormous pressure inside the State Department to show up for the Venezuelan people and the government. And we’ve seen that just in terms of how large their footprint is immediately following this double earthquake setting.”

“It’s not to say the U.S. wouldn’t respond in other earthquakes, but this is really of a scale and speed that shows they want to be reactive and they want to deliver life-saving aid to the people who need it desperately right now,” Vigersky said.

A Trump administration official told reporters on a press call Monday that at least three American citizens have died and 12 are missing.