{"id":603900,"date":"2026-09-02T17:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/603900\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T17:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:54:16","slug":"pitiful-experts-condemn-initial-us-aid-contribution-for-nepal-flood-victims-us-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/603900\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pitiful\u2019: experts condemn initial US aid contribution for Nepal flood victims | US news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aid experts have denounced the US\u2019s \u201cembarrassing\u201d and \u201cpitiful\u201d initial response to the Nepal<\/a> flood disaster after the US state department announced it was releasing $500,000 in emergency funds to help the relief effort.<\/p>\n

The modest sum \u2013 which has since been increased \u2013 allocated in response to the devastation caused by mudslides in the mountainous Asian country was mocked on social media<\/a>, where users contrasted it with the amount spent on other Trump administration priorities.<\/p>\n

The death toll from last week\u2019s flash floods has passed 1,000<\/a>, with 4,400 people still unaccounted, according to officials in Nepal and China. Rescue teams are trying to find workers trapped in hydropower tunnels, which were buried in mud.<\/p>\n

The US contribution has been upped to $3.6m, which state department officials say will be used to deliver food assistance to feed 10,000 affected households for up to three months, and pay for emergency items such as blankets, mosquito nets and shelter sheets.<\/p>\n

However, seasoned humanitarian aid specialists suggest even that contribution is inadequate and say the US response has shrunk to a shadow of its previous capacity by the dismantling of USAID<\/a>, the country\u2019s main foreign assistance organization, after Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House last year.<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s functions were taken over by the state department after USAID was terminated as an independent agency in July 2025 after being dismantled by the unofficial \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d, spearheaded by Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

The state department says the US continues to support Nepal\u2019s flood early warning system through grants.<\/p>\n

However, foreign aid specialists highlighted the initial $500,000 sum as symbolic of the inadequacy of current US efforts compared with what would have been offered before USAID was dissolved. The state department has countered by saying it was \u201cwas designed to get immediate assistance moving while assessments were under way\u201d and insisted the dismantling of USAID had \u201cnot slowed the US response\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mark Ward<\/a>, a former head of USAID\u2019s disaster response team, who was nicknamed \u201cMr Disaster\u201d by President George HW Bush because of his prominent role in relief efforts, called the announcement \u201cembarrassing for the United States and a bit of a slap at Nepal\u201d.<\/p>\n

Under USAID, Ward said, the amount would have been decided by a disaster assistance response team, which would have been on the ground immediately to assess needs because of the close working relationship the agency had with Nepal, a known natural disaster zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would have done an assessment very quickly with the Nepalese authorities, and then we would have decided on a number,\u201d said Ward. \u201cI\u2019m sure it would have been a lot more than the figure that we\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

His sentiments were echoed by George Ingram<\/a>, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former staff member of the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was embarrassed for America,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would have been better for them not to announce it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early to know what the total magnitude of the US assistance should be, but an initial offering of half a million dollars is pitiful. I do not recall a major disaster like this in which the US initial reaction was such a paltry amount.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should have said nothing focused on saying we need to figure out what the needs are.\u201d<\/p>\n

After news of floods broke last week, Karoline Leavitt, the outgoing White House press secretary, said the US embassy in Nepal was \u201cin close contact with local authorities on the ground\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve offered our help and assistance but of course, the first priority for this president and for Secretary Rubio will always be Americans,\u201d she told Fox News. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on rescuing every American that we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ward, who worked on previous disasters in Nepal, said it was the country that the USAID had the closest relationship with because of its susceptibility to earthquakes and other natural catastrophes with humanitarian consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no country that we had a better relationship with than Nepal in their disaster management capacity, for the simple reason that nobody has more disasters than Nepal because of its topography,\u201d he said. \u201cWe always had disaster experts there on our staff working with these guys, getting them ready for the next disaster, and they\u2019re obviously gone now, with the dismantling of USAID.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current relief efforts are now being led by Nepal\u2019s neighbors, India and China, said Ward, who argued that the US decision to skimp on foreign aid was a false economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it really in the interest of the United States to have China and India in the lead?\u201d he said. \u201cThe United States is safer when the world is more stable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the world is unstable, there are more refugees trying to cross borders, and eventually, maybe ours. Maybe American troops have to deploy. So dealing with natural and man-made disasters before they get out of hand is in the interests of the United States, and it\u2019s dirt cheap compared to the kinds of money you need to respond to a civil war, an insurrection or a refugee crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

A state department spokesperson defended the US response as \u201cfast, flexible, and driven by conditions on the ground \u2013 not arbitrary funding targets\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a needs-based, adaptive model that allows the United States to get assistance out the door immediately rather than delay action while waiting for a complete picture of a rapidly evolving disaster,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThe result is tangible assistance reaching affected Nepalis now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is continuing to assess the situation and will adjust its response as circumstances warrant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aid experts have denounced the US\u2019s \u201cembarrassing\u201d and \u201cpitiful\u201d initial response to the Nepal flood disaster after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-603900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}