A Note from OneAID Organizers about Friday's Earthquake

March 30, 2025

Our hearts are with the people across southeast Asia affected by Friday’s catastrophic earthquake. As of this morning, the media is reporting over 1,600 people have died and over 3,400 are injured. The military government in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is rarely one to ask for outside help and has issued an international appeal for assistance.

Historically, the United States has been a global leader in responding to such disasters through USAID, providing urban search and rescue, food, clean water, and shelter assistance within hours of a crisis, in partnership with humanitarian actors on the ground. For crises of significant scale and scope, USAID would deploy Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) to lead and coordinate U.S. response operations overseas, which is what USAID did when an earthquake of similar magnitude struck Türkiye just over two years ago.

Although USAID’s agreements with the urban search and rescue teams from Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department remain intact, the Trump administration cut the contracts for the special transport needed to move the search teams, rescue dogs, and heavy equipment required for response. Moreover, the recent massive staffing cuts across USAID have eliminated the teams of humanitarian experts that normally would be coordinating with partners to support rescue and response operations. America's once-robust and respected international disaster response capacity, built upon decades of experience and lessons learned, has been dismantled by the Trump administration's efforts to recklessly shutter USAID, all without a plan in place to respond to humanitarian and other crises.

Meanwhile, humanitarian actors and other governments, including the European Union, India and China have already mobilized aid in response to Friday’s earthquake. While China is acting with speed and coordination, the Trump administration is not.

Instead, on Friday, the Trump administration decided to issue final notices of termination to the few remaining staff left at USAID, even those staff they previously told were essential.

The U.S. government no longer has the tools or personnel to respond when our global neighbors request assistance, and because of the way USAID was dismantled, it will take years to rebuild the capacity that has been critical support for countries to respond to humanitarian crises. At the same time, trust in the U.S. as a reliable partner is now completely in question.

USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and Office of Food for Peace (FFP) were merged together to become the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) under the first Trump Administration in 2020. At the time, Trump administration leadership at USAID, including Project 2025 contributor Max Primorac, applauded USAID’s humanitarian experts, expressing they “could not be more proud to lead” the bureau and emphasized “we are stronger together, and remain dedicated to do what we do best: bringing help and hope to those who need it most.”

Since it was established in 1961, USAID kept us safer here at home while demonstrating American generosity and saving millions of lives around the world, all with less than 1% of the federal budget. Demonstrated by their actions, the Trump administration’s destruction of USAID has never been about efficiency, nor has it been a serious reform effort. The U.S. is now left without the systems, experienced personnel, and partners necessary to responsibly and strategically implement foreign assistance—making the U.S. weaker, less safe, and less prosperous.

To the people across southeast Asia and around the world who may not receive the help they need, to USAID’s partners and U.S. allies who have been abandoned, and to all of the international aid professionals who have or soon will lose their livelihoods as a result of the Trump administration’s actions, we are so deeply sorry. You deserve better.