Trump Admin Fires U.S. Aid Workers Assisting After Earthquake in Myanmar

The Trump administration has fired three USAID workers who were sent to Myanmar to assess how the United States could assist with relief efforts following last month’s devastating earthquake. The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which has killed at least 3,300 people, with another 4,850 people suffering injuries and approximately 220 people still missing, struck near the country’s second largest city, Mandalay, on March 28.

It is the second deadliest earthquake in Myanmar’s history. The USAID workers who were fired had only recently arrived in Myanmar days earlier, and received their termination notices via email. The move comes after several weeks of the Trump administration attempting to remake USAID in Trump’s image, which includes cutting thousands of jobs, severely limiting the amount of aid provided, and giving the State Department control of managing foreign aid.



Their colleagues, who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution, were “furious” at the way they had been treated, while U.S. diplomats worried about whether the firings could be a sign of what’s to come in the State Department.

The firings are at odds with commitments previously made by State Secretary Marco Rubio, who had stated that the U.S. would continue to provide some humanitarian and crisis aid despite Trump’s best efforts to dismantle USAID.

USAID employees were warned to expect firings this summer as the agency is folded into the State Department, but the termination of three workers as they were on the ground was seen as “especially cruel” by those familiar with the situation. Myanmar requested help from other nations following the devastating earthquake, with Russia, China, Malaysia and India sending aid teams and supplies along with neighboring Thailand and Vietnam; the U.S.

did not send any aid workers until this week, and they have now been fired. It is unclear when they will be required to leave their jobs or what they will do in Myanmar until then. In a statement issued on Friday, the United States, Australia, Japan and India announced they were jointly providing $20 million in aid, while the U.

S. embassy in Myanmar announced earlier that the U.S.

would only be providing up to $2 million in aid. Democrats have denounced the lack of aid efforts, with some senators sending a letter to Secretaries Rubio and Bessent on Wednesday urging the government to “rapidly assess” what the U.S.

can still do for those impacted by the earthquake..