Earthquake-stricken Venezuela [AFP=Yonhap News]

The United States announced on the 25th (local time) that it plans to provide $150 million (approximately 231.7 billion KRW) in aid to Venezuela, which has suffered mass casualties due to a series of powerful earthquakes.

The U.S. State Department stated that day, "Within hours of the earthquake, President Trump immediately authorized the U.S. government to provide significant financial assistance, deploy search and rescue operations, and coordinate with the Venezuelan interim government to address the urgent needs of the Venezuelan people."

The financial assistance consists of $50 million in funding provided through organizations active on the ground in Venezuela, such as World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), International Medical Corps (IMC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the World Food Programme (WFP), as well as a $100 million contribution to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Venezuela Joint Fund.

In addition, the State Department announced that it is deploying search and rescue teams optimized for locating and extracting survivors in Venezuela.

These teams are two urban search and rescue units from the Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles County, California fire departments. Comprising highly trained personnel including firefighters, doctors, structural engineers, and canine search specialists, both teams were previously deployed to Jamaica following the devastation of Hurricane Melissa last October.

The State Department further stated that it has formed a separate task force (TF) for disaster response and is working in coordination with the Department of Defense to facilitate the rapid movement of response personnel, equipment, and humanitarian aid supplies to the affected areas.