The White House launches an emergency operation for Venezuela and mobilizes $150 Million in aid following the earthquakes

The Trump administration announced a comprehensive humanitarian response to assist Venezuela following the earthquakes that struck the South American country on Wednesday afternoon. Specifically, a task force coordinated by the Department of State was established to oversee and coordinate the delivery of emergency assistance, including search-and-rescue teams, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid to the affected areas.

U.S. aid comes after Venezuela was struck by two earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, with their epicenters in northern Venezuela. The quakes caused buildings to collapse, widespread damage to infrastructure, and disruptions to basic services in several cities, including Caracas and La Guaira, leaving hundreds dead and thousands displaced.

In a statement, the agency headed by Marco Rubio announced the deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). The team includes two specialized urban search-and-rescue teams focused on locating and reaching survivors.

In addition to immediate search-and-rescue operations, aerial support, and logistical coordination, the Trump administration announced $150 million in assistance to address the emergency in Venezuela. Of that total, $50 million will be channeled through new bilateral allocations to humanitarian organizations already operating on the ground, including World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Catholic Relief Services, International Medical Corps, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the World Food Program (WFP).

The remaining $100 million will be allocated to the Venezuela Trust Fund, administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to fund large-scale relief operations in the regions affected by the earthquakes.

For its part, the Venezuela Earthquake Response Task Force will “coordinate assistance with public and private sector partners, assess needs on the ground, and provide assistance to Americans who may be affected.”

In addition, the letter clarified that the Department of State will work in coordination with the Department of War in “securing logistics, leveraging military assets already positioned in the region, and deploying forward personnel to maximize response speed and effectiveness.”

The assistance represents one of the largest humanitarian operations launched by Washington in Latin America during Trump’s second term and comes amid growing cooperation between the two countries, which began following the capture of the dictator Nicolás Maduro, who remains in custody in New York.