Three US 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 traveling 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 US 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 demoralizing?" 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.