China, Russia and India have sent emergency and supplies to Myanmar. So have Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The United States, the richest country in the world and once its generous foreign aid provider, has sent nothing.
Even as President Trump was disband The United States Agency for International Development said that North -American Help was heading to Myanmar, where a Earthquake of 7.7-Magnitud On Friday, it passed through the very populated center of the country. More than 1,700 people died, according to Myanmar’s military government, with the number of deaths expected to rise abruptly, as more bodies are discovered in the rubble and rescue teams reach remote villages.
But a three -person evaluation team is not expected to arrive until Wednesday, according to people who are aware of the deployment efforts. The general -American general response has been slower than under normal circumstances, according to people who have worked on previous resaster relief efforts, as well as in help to Myanmar.
Chinese search and rescue teams, completed with dogs trained to snatch people trapped, are already on the ground in Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar and one of the most deeply affected places on the earthquake. 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 considered charity serves North -American foreign policy, » said Michael Schiffer, the Deputy Administrator of the USAID office for Asia from 2022 until the beginning of this year. « If we don’t show up and China appears, this sends a fairly strong message. »
On Sunday, the United States Embassy in Myanmar announced to its website that the United States would provide up to $ 2 million in aid, dispersed through humanitarian groups based in Myanmar. But many of the systems needed to pull North -American help in Myanmar have been destroyed.
On Friday, as some Washington employees at the USAID Humanitarian Assistance Office prepared a response to the earthquake, they received Emails of dismissal of the agency. Career diplomats working for USAID and other employees spent laying for weeks; Trump’s political nominees in Washington had already fired most contractors working for the agency.
Employees who received dismissal warnings were told that they should return home that afternoon. Some had coordinated with help missions in Bangkok and Manila, who manage the response to disasters in Asia.
Two of Washington’s employees expected to move this winter to Yangon, to Myanmar, and Bangkok to work as humanitarian assistance advisers outside the United States missions. But these positions were cut. If they had not been, the two employees would have been on the ground to organize urgent responses to the earthquake.
After the disaster arrived on Friday, the United States Embassy to Yangon sent a cable to the USAID headquarters in Washington to start the evaluation process for help needs and obtain help through the door. And the next day, a named politician of the Trump administration in USAID, Meisburger teammade a call with national security agencies officials to discuss a plan.
But Mr. Meisburger said that although there would be an answer, no one should wait for the agency capabilities to be those that were in the past, said a person with direct knowledge of the call.
A USAID spokesman did not respond to a comment request.
The agency usually has access to food and emergency supplies to the warehouses in Dubai and Subang Jaya, Malaysia. But the big question is now the speed that, after being almost completely dismantled, can obtain goods from these places in Myanmar. Goods include medical kits that can meet the care needs of 30,000 people for more than three months.
Apart from the career diplomats, the ranks of the Agency’s Humanitarian Assistance Office have included crisis specialist contractors who live worldwide and can quickly deploy those called disaster assistance response teams. Many of these contractors have been fired and the infrastructure to support Washington and other offices (people who can book flights and manage payments, for example) were affected by cuts over the last two months.
The agency also used to alert Certificated Search and Rescue teams to Virginia and in southern California for a possible deployment in the disaster area, but transport contracts for these teams have been reduced, said a former employee of the Help Agency.
Usaid’s annual assignments for Myanmar were about $ 320 million last year. About $ 170 million were for humanitarian work and the rest was for development initiatives, such as the construction of democracy and health. Only a few million dollars of projects are still operational, although some of these programs, such as one for maternal and children’s health, have not received funding, although they were told that initiatives are not closed.
Prior to the cuts, the annual costs of the U.S. Foreign Aid was less than 1 % of the federal budget.
At a press conference in Jamaica last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States would continue to work for foreign aid, albeit dramatically reduced. He said that the goal was to provide help « which strategically fits with our foreign policy priorities and the priorities of our host countries and our nation, as we collaborate. »
On Friday, Tammy Bruce, spokesman for the State Department, said that crisis teams were ready to deploy in Myanmar.
The United States’s ability to provide life rescue help has been affected not only by budget cuts, but also by the obstacles to Myanmar. Since gaining power in 2021, Myanmar’s Military Board has closed the country since western influences. Myanmar is now embroiled in the Civil War, with a loose coalition of opposition forces that has fought control of more than half of the country’s territory.
The United States and other western nations have responded to the brutal record of human rights with sanctions, and the military chief who orchestrated the coup, the senior general minus Aung Hlaing, has directed against the West, thanking China and Russia for the ideological and economic support.
However, in the hours following the earthquake, General Min Aung Hlaing said that he hosted help out of relief for disasters, and not just countries with friendly relations with the military regime.
Myanmar experts say they are worried that some of the help of going through the board could be diverted to the armed forces. Myanmar’s army is under -financed and short of morality, as it fights against resistance forces on many fronts.
In Mandalay, residents said they were annoying to see the soldiers walking the places of collapsed buildings. Some played video games on their phones, while the locals used their hands to make bricks from the rubble.
However, the Chinese and Russian search teams, equipped with orange and blue uniforms, were digging the wreck on Mandalay on Sunday, and a Belgian squad went north.
A good part of the USAID funding was dedicated to areas of the country not under board control. North -American assistance has been to health care and schooling for internally displaced people. He has supported local administrations trying to form mini governments in areas of conflict. And has sought to provide emergency relief to civilian civilians by Airstrikes.
In the Sagaing Region, a strength of resistance against the Board, Myanmar’s military aircraft carried out two rounds of air attacks in the village of Nwel Khwe hours hours after the earthquake destroyed buildings there, adding more terror to the lives of residents.
« It’s as if Min Aung Hlaing wants to ensure that we die, if not the earthquake, after his attacks, » said a villager, Ko Aung Kyaw.
But Mr. Aung Kyaw said he did not expect foreigners, North -Americans or otherwise to relieve the situation. Sagaing has suffered for four years and its people have died of thousands of fighting the board. Foreign help, he said, would probably end up benefiting the military regime, not those who need it most.
« In the end, we only have ourselves, » he said. « Four years have been resisting -it is clear that we will have to find our own way to go, no matter what it is. »
Stephanie Nolen Reports contributed,
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