How will the dismantling of USAID affect U.S. relief efforts in Jamaica? Hint: It's another Trump disaster.

[Doodley]

USAID was the lead federal agency coordinating disaster response but no longer exists.

The agency had a staff of about 800 people trained in disaster relief and a road map for handling disasters like Melissa. For disasters like this epic hurricane, preparations would have started months in advance.

"USAID would have been working with governments and embassies in the region on preparing for hurricane season," says Sarah Charles, who led USAID's Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance during the Biden administration.

SNIP

Experts interviewed also cautioned that the State Department is bureaucratic and has systems and operating procedures that were not built with disaster relief in mind. So things could take longer.

SNIP

Then there's the matter of the budget upheaval. Heidel says the cuts to programs and staff limits the capability for the U.S. to respond to new disasters that can happen anywhere, "because they're spread so very thin on all of the pre-existing disasters. Obviously, there's so much going on worldwide and in the Middle East and in Africa," he says.

And with all the cuts, he says that there's simply "no way that the U.S. government is going to be able to provide a major level of support that they have provided in the past."


https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/10/29/g-s1-95551/jamaica-melissa-hurricane-relief-usaid