U.S. jumping into action to assist Venezuela following massive earthquakes

“The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scales and have left a devastating number of deaths. The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help!” the president wrote. “I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends.”

Jeremy Lewin, undersecretary of state for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs, and Religious Assistance, confirmed that a disaster assistance team and task force have already been mobilized to provide “critical assistance.”

He added that the U.S. will be sending search-and-rescue teams, along with medical and humanitarian supplies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Thursday that help is on the way.

“We’re already deploying search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Va., and Los Angeles. There will be some others we’ll add. That’s their most immediate need right now, is search and rescue efforts. They have [many] collapsed buildings. And so they’ll need a lot of help in terms of digging through that,” said Rubio.

He added that the airport is “badly damaged” and will rely on the Department of War to deploy “assets” to assist.

“We’re also helping them with some overhead imagery, especially in coastal areas where they don’t have full visibility over what the damage has been and what the impact has been. Those are acute, like short-term needs over the next 48 to 72 hours,” said the secretary of state.

He said that several countries, including Qatar, El Salvador and Chile, have reached out to offer assistance.

Rubio said there will also be long-term needs in Venezuela, such as housing. He said the U.S. will also assist in restoring communications and in managing what he expects to be a “surge of private donations.”

The U.S. is no stranger to assisting other nations in the wake of natural disasters, even deploying military assets.

Following the 2011 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the U.S. launched “Operation Tomodachi,” involving over 20,000 American service members.

One hundred and eighty-nine aircraft and 24 U.S. Navy vessels, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, participated in humanitarian efforts. It has been estimated that the then Department of Defense committed $88.5 million in assistance for the disaster, “out of a total of $95 million from the U.S. government,” according to a congressional report on the disaster.

The U.S. Naval Institute reports that two U.S. Naval ships are currently operating in the Caribbean Sea: the USS Fort Lauderdale and the USS Billings. USNI has reported the soon-to-be decommissioned USS Nimitz, the oldest aircraft carrier in the fleet, was spotted at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Fla.

Naval ships in the Caribbean have been assisting in counter-narco operations in the region.