WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is sending a disaster response team and $1 million in aid to Nepal following a devastating earthquake felt in neighboring countries.
The White House and Secretary of State John Kerry are offering condolences along with pledging the support.
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake outside the capital Kathmandu killed more than 1,000 people in Nepal, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It also toppled buildings and triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest.
Kerry says in a statement that the United States stands with the people of Nepal and sends heartfelt sympathies.
He says USAID is preparing to deploy the disaster assistance response team and is activating an urban search and rescue team.
National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan says the U.S. stands ready to provide further assistance in the region.
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$1 million in aid is nowhere near what is required. Nepal hasn’t got near the money or infrastructure (response teams, 1st responders, medical facilities etc) that will be needed in the coming days and weeks. They will be decades in rebuilding their country. We don’t know thefull extent of the damage because so much of the country is remote and basically inaccessible except on foot or by helicopter. But I am sure it is extensive. I am sure many thousands of people are dead, wounded, made homeless in this event. The world should look past petty differences and set about helping our fellow human beings. They need us now, right now. $ 1 million just does not cut it.
I’m sure more aid will be sent. As bad as we are as a nation the U.S. has always been generous when it comes to helping other nations affected by natural disasters.
Positively shameful and an embarrassment to our nation. Republicans have spent over fifty times that just in their grandstanding efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act alone.
It says they are ready to offer assistance as needed. The $1 mil is immediate funds likely for rescue and recovery, not for rebuilding. That part would need to be assessed, etc. A report is written up with estimated costs and such. Then the financing gets addressed.
Hopefully people will be rescues while your report is written.