USAID team fired while in Myanmar earthquake zone, ex-official says

By Poppy McPherson

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Three U.S. aid workers were laid off while in Myanmar helping the rescue and recovery from the country's massive earthquake, a former senior staffer said, as the Trump administration's dismantling of foreign aid affects its disaster response.

After travelling to the Southeast Asian nation, the three officials were told late this week they would be let go, Marcia Wong, a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development, told Reuters.

"This team is working incredibly hard, focussed on getting humanitarian aid to those in need. To get news of your imminent termination - how can that not be demoralising?" said Wong, former deputy administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which oversees Washington’s disease response efforts overseas.

President Donald Trump's government has pledged at least $9 million to Myanmar after the magnitude-7.7 quake, which has killed more than 3,300. But his administration's massive cuts to USAID have hindered its ability to respond, while China, Russia, India and other nations have rushed in assistance.

The Trump administration has moved to fire nearly all USAID staff in recent weeks, as billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has slashed funding and dismissed contractors across the federal bureaucracy in what it calls an attack on wasteful spending.

The three USAID workers have been sleeping on the streets in the earthquake zone, Wong said, adding that their terminations would take effect in a few months. Residents have been sleeping outside for fear of aftershocks and further building collapses, 

Wong said she is in contact with remaining USAID staff and that she heard about the terminations after an all-staff meeting on Friday.

Former USAID staff say most of the people who would have coordinated the response have been let go, while third-party implementing partners have lost contracts.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday rejected criticism that Washington was slow to respond to the March 28 earthquake because USAID was dismantled.

Rather, he told reporters in Brussels, Myanmar was not "the easiest place to work", saying the military government does not like the United States and prevents it from operating in the country as it wants to.

The United Nations has said the junta was limiting humanitarian aid.

Rubio said the U.S. would no longer be the world’s top humanitarian donor, calling on other wealthy nations to step up in assisting Myanmar.

(Reporting by Poppy McPherson; Editing by William Mallard)