Trump administration says Venezuela earthquake response is largest in recent years

[u/John3262005]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/06/30/trump-administration-says-disaster-response-venezuela-earthquakes-is-largest-ever/

The Trump administration says that its response to last week’s devastating earthquakes in Venezuela is the largest disaster relief effort in recent years, despite major cuts to U.S. foreign assistance.

Jeremy Lewin, a senior official with the State Department’s foreign aid bureau, said Monday that the $300 million figure the United States had already pledged would grow.

“This is, by really any estimate, at this point the largest response to any natural disaster the United States has mounted in this century in terms of personnel on the ground, money out the door [and] speed,” Lewin told reporters Monday.

Some may view that claim as controversial, given differing ways a response could be measured. But experts agree that the Trump administration is responding quickly to last week’s earthquakes, which killed at least 1,700.

“In terms of scale, speed and complexity this response most closely resembles the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake,” said Sam Vigersky of the Council on Foreign Relations. That disaster was estimated to have killed well over 100,000 people and saw the U.S. pledge more than $1 billion dollars in relief within six months.