In the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa’s devastating strike on Jamaica and its Caribbean neighbors, the United States faces a defining test of its disaster relief capabilities—a test complicated by the recent dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and deep cuts to the foreign aid budget. As the Category 5 hurricane battered Jamaica with torrential rains, major flooding, and widespread power outages, Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the country a “disaster area,” underscoring the urgent need for international assistance. The storm, which has already claimed at least four lives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, left swathes of Jamaica isolated and in desperate need of help.
Jamaica’s formal request for disaster aid from the United States came as volunteers in Miami rapidly assembled relief packages at the Global Empowerment Mission headquarters, hoping to bridge the growing gap in emergency response. According to NPR, this hurricane is a real test for U.S. disaster response capabilities since the shutdown of USAID earlier this year. For decades, USAID was the world’s largest aid agency, with a staff of about 800 disaster relief professionals and a well-honed playbook for responding to crises like Melissa. Preparations for such disasters typically began months in advance, involving close coordination with regional governments, emergency management exercises, and pre-positioning of vital supplies not just in U.S. warehouses but also in vulnerable countries like Haiti.
“USAID would have been working with governments and embassies in the region on preparing for hurricane season,” said Sarah Charles, former head of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance during the Biden administration, in comments to NPR. “And this would have been everything from exercises with emergency management authorities in different countries [and aid groups], to pre-positioning stocks of things like plastic sheeting, emergency food, household item kits warehouses in places like Miami, but also in particular countries like Haiti, which is very vulnerable to storms of this nature.”
But on July 1, 2025, USAID was officially dismantled by the Trump administration, a move that left disaster response leadership in flux. The State Department inherited the responsibility, absorbing about 100 of USAID’s disaster response staff into its Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. However, experts have voiced concern about whether the State Department—an agency built for diplomacy, not disaster logistics—can match USAID’s speed and expertise. “So many of USAID’s systems came out of, frankly, the negative experiences of the Haiti earthquake, where people both in and out of the government were so moved by the devastation that a lot of help flooded in, but in a totally uncoordinated way that created more chaos and challenges in the response,” Charles explained. She added that USAID’s hard-won expertise may not have survived the recent cuts.
Despite these challenges, the State Department has taken steps to respond. On October 29, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X that “the United States is in close contact with the governments of Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic and The Bahamas as they confront the devastating impacts of Hurricane Melissa. We have rescue and response teams heading to affected areas along with critical lifesaving supplies.” According to NPR and The New York Times, the State Department deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to the region and activated two U.S.-based search-and-rescue teams, located in Los Angeles and Fairfax, Virginia, for rapid foreign deployment. DART officials are set to travel to Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas to assess damage and determine what assistance is needed.
But the differences from past disaster responses are stark. During Hurricane Beryl in July 2024, USAID pre-positioned relief supplies across the Caribbean and deployed staff to seven countries before the storm even hit. This time, the State Department stockpiled supplies in six U.S. warehouses but did not pre-position them in countries in the hurricane’s path. The delay, officials admitted, was partly due to budget constraints and worker furloughs caused by the ongoing federal government shutdown. One senior State Department official conceded to reporters that the shutdown “complicates things,” though senior officials have granted the necessary permissions to mobilize federal workers with expertise.
Recognizing the scale of the crisis, the State Department has also asked the U.S. military for assistance. According to a senior official cited by The New York Times, the military’s Joint Task Force-Bravo, based in Honduras and experienced in humanitarian operations, was on standby to help with airlifts of food, water, and supplies to remote Jamaican communities cut off by the storm. The Bahamas, meanwhile, requested American air support to reach its own isolated areas. While these moves are encouraging, some aid professionals worry that the Trump administration’s stance—articulated by Secretary Rubio, who has said the United States shoulders too much of the world’s humanitarian burden—could result in a reduced U.S. response compared to previous disasters.
Brian Heidel, a career humanitarian who led USAID’s Caribbean teams, described the State Department’s mobilization as a “welcome sign” but warned that the loss of USAID’s resources and expertise limits what the U.S. government can deliver. “There’s so much going on worldwide and in the Middle East and in Africa,” he told NPR. “With all the cuts, there’s simply no way that the U.S. government is going to be able to provide a major level of support that they have provided in the past.”
Sarah Charles echoed this concern, noting that the Jamaican government will likely need U.S. help with emergency food and supplies, transportation to remote areas, and technological support for damage assessment. “Using our technology to do damage assessments and sharing those with the government, supporting their communication and logistics, all with the aim of helping the Jamaican government get to those that are the most cut off and the most vulnerable,” she said.
The emerging operation is not just about logistics—it’s also about perception and trust. The State Department’s decision not to send supplies before the storm, as USAID routinely did, has raised eyebrows among both international partners and domestic critics. Some officials, speaking anonymously to The New York Times, acknowledged that the transition from USAID to the State Department has been anything but seamless, with bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of disaster-specific protocols slowing the response. They declined to specify how much aid the United States would ultimately send, leaving affected nations in suspense.
Even as the United States mobilizes its remaining disaster response resources, the broader implications of the USAID shutdown are coming into focus. The agency’s decades of experience, deep regional partnerships, and ability to coordinate across government, military, and non-governmental actors made it uniquely effective in crises. Now, with a leaner staff and a more bureaucratic approach, America’s ability to respond quickly and at scale is in doubt.
As Hurricane Melissa’s floodwaters recede, the true measure of the U.S. response will become clear—not just in the supplies delivered or the teams deployed, but in the lives saved and the trust maintained with vulnerable partners in the Caribbean. For now, the world is watching, and so are those whose futures depend on an effective and compassionate American response.
