Search and Rescue Teams Spearhead Robust American Relief Effort in Venezuela

American search and rescue teams are on the ground in Venezuela with sniffer dogs and 100 tons of special equipment, part of what the State Department describes as “an unprecedented, large-scale response” as the death toll from this week’s twin earthquakes climbs toward 1,500.In a stunning reversal, the large American military presence in the Caribbean that months ago facilitated the capture of Venezuela’s deposed dictator, Nicolas Maduro, is now playing a critical role in the delivery of personnel and equipment to the South American nation where much civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.The large-scale relief effort reflects the changed attitude toward what had been seen during the Maduro years as a rogue nation by President Trump — who promised this week that America “will be there for our new and great friends” in Venezuela.Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, was quoted on the country’s Democrata news site Saturday saying she had received a phone call from Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “who reaffirmed the support of the Government of the United States during this difficult time for Venezuela. We are deeply grateful for this gesture of friendship and cooperation,” she said. The relief effort also serves as a test of America’s ability to respond to a major international disaster following the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development last year.The two earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, struck in quick succession Wednesday evening, damaging or destroying more than 1,400 buildings across the country, including 13 hospitals. A total of 1,430 people had been confirmed dead as of Saturday afternoon, with the United States Geological Survey warning the toll could reach 10,000 as rescue teams dig through the rubble.At least two dozen countries besides the United States have announced they are sending earthquake assistance to the country.America’s immediate response is being led by urban search-and-rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia; Los Angeles County, California; and Miami-Dade County, Florida; each with up to 80 members and half a dozen canines, according to a State Department statement Friday.“These USAR teams will conduct systematic search operations across collapsed structures, working to locate and extract survivors, and coordinate with local emergency responders and the Venezuelan interim government to prioritize the most heavily impacted areas,” the statement said.Members of a Fairfax, Virginia-based urban search and rescue team travel to Venezuela aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft. Department of Defense via XTransport for the teams and their equipment has been facilitated by United States Air Force C-17s while a range of other Defense Department assets have been brought into play. These include Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys conducting airfield assessments near the earthquake epicenter; Navy vessels providing support in waters near Venezuela; Army CH-47 Chinooks deploying from Honduras to transport personnel and supplies; and Space Force satellite imagery supporting damage assessment and prioritization of aid efforts.Volunteers package supplies to be sent to victims of the Venezuela earthquakes at Doral, Florida, on June 25, 2026. Cody Jackson/APLooking ahead to the recovery phase, the Trump administration says it will provide $50 million in new bilateral awards to partners including World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Catholic Relief Services, the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, and the World Food Program. Another $100 million will go to a special fund established by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.The robust effort reflects the warm relationship that Mr. Trump has established with the new administration in Caracas led by Ms. Rodriguez, who was once a loyal supporter of Mr. Maduro but since his capture has worked closely with America to re-establish diplomatic relations and open the nation’s oil sector to American companies.Just days before the earthquakes, Mr. Trump expressed his approval of the Rodriguez administration, saying, “The people running it, they are our people. They’re great people.”The earthquake response also serves as a test for the State Department, which last year assumed the responsibilities of USAID, formerly the lead agency in coordinating American assistance following international disasters.In a November 2025 report, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said that the dismantling of USAID had “fundamentally truncated and altered the capability of the United States to respond to humanitarian crises and bolster the resilience of developing country partners to weather disasters around the world.”The report said that USAID’s 1,000-person Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which led past relief efforts, had been “reduced to a group of roughly 50 people embedded within the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at the State Department.”This week’s robust mobilization “clearly reflects some lessons that [the administration] learned after the failure to deploy a search and rescue team to Myanmar” following an earthquake in March 2025, said the president of Refugees International, Jeremy Konyndyk, in an interview with National Public Radio.“There was definitely a period last year when they had lost the capability to deploy a search and rescue team in the DOGE destruction of USAID. It was very visible and very embarrassing,” added Mr. Konyndyk, who was head of USAID’s disaster response during the Obama administration.Since then, NPR said, the State Department has quietly hired back some of USAID’s humanitarian response staff and reinstated some of the contracts with groups that provide assistance in disasters, including search and rescue teams.

Search and Rescue Teams Spearhead Robust American Relief Effort in Venezuela

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