State Department touts foreign assistance during Hurricane Melissa without USAID
The State Department says that the shuttering of the United States Agency for International Development -- the world's largest agency tasked with administering foreign aid -- did not hamper its efficacy in responding to last month's Category 5 hurricane that pummeled Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas and Haiti.
The catastrophic storm marked the first major test for the federal agency now tasked with responding to global disasters.
A senior State Department official touted the agency's response to the hurricane as "successful" and pointed to the effectiveness of the Trump administration's new foreign assistance model, with the State Department now handing over authority to regional bureaus to take the lead in disaster response efforts.
The agency's response to Hurricane Melissa comes after USAID officially shut down in July after President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency dismantled the aid agency over what it deemed wasteful spending.
The move to shut down USAID and to limit U.S. foreign assistance was widely condemned by humanitarian organizations around the world, with some experts warning that the foreign aid cuts could lead to deaths in the thousands, if not millions, in the next decade.
The Republican administration said that USAID had misspent billions in funds and "has little to show since the end of the Cold War."
"This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a directive published in July. "Americans should not pay taxes to fund failed governments in faraway lands. Moving forward, our assistance will be targeted and time limited."
The senior State Department official said its new model empowers regional bureaus to lead disaster response efforts, while streamlining those efforts under a task force that operates at the State Department instead of at a separate, outside agency that is otherwise "disconnected from broader foreign policy aims."
The task force -- led out of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere affairs -- worked in tandem with interagency partners, including SOUTHCOM and the Department of War, which provided some military assistance in response to Hurricane Melissa.
The senior official said the new model "not only elevates the role of regional experts but also allows the State Department to work as a key coordinator across the entire government of the United States."
The State Department last week approved $24 million in assistance, including $12 million for Jamaica, $8.5 million for Haiti, $3 million for Cuba, and $500,000 for the Bahamas.
The State Department, in partnership with the United Nations World Food Program, supplied and distributed 5,000 family food packs in Jamaica, with each pack providing food to a family of four, according to a senior official. The United States government offered more than 18 metric tons of Title II food assistance to Haiti, the official said.
“Alarmists alleged that the closing of USAID would be disastrous and hamper our ability to address crises. They were wrong,” State Department Deputy Principal Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement provided to ABC News. “The State Department’s response to Hurricane Melissa demonstrates that the new foreign assistance model is not only capable of responding to emergencies, but that it allows for relief efforts that are informed by the State Department’s regional experts and integrated with the State Department’s broader foreign policy.”
Analysts have said Jamaica remains the hardest-hit country in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, suffering catastrophic damage and widespread destruction after the hurricane made landfall last month as a Category 5 storm.
The hurricane caused flooding and landslides in other affected regions like Haiti and Cuba, but Jamaica experienced the most severe impacts, with extensive damage to infrastructure and a significant death toll.
Despite the aid coming in to Jamaica and other Caribbean nations in the region hard hit by the hurricane, the storm has left over 4.8 million tons of debris blocking roads, obstructing access to schools, hospitals and clinics, farms and markets, slowing the delivery of relief supplies, and delaying the restoration of key services, based on analysis from the United Nations Development Programme.
Tens of thousands of homes have been damaged, particularly in St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland in Jamaica, where whole towns were decimated and up to 90 percent of buildings in some areas were impacted, according to the UNDP.
“Entire communities are surrounded by debris,” said Kishan Khoday, a UNDP resident representative in Jamaica. “Debris removal is critical to kick-start early recovery, to restoring safe access to homes and infrastructure, and reviving essential services. We need to act fast because delay means blocked roads, vital services at a standstill, lost income, and increased suffering to those hit hardest by the storm.”
The State Department dispatched Jeremy Lewin, senior official for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs and Religious Freedom, to Jamaica on Sunday to further survey damage and meet with senior Jamaican government officials on the ground.
