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Nepal was already confronting the growing challenges of preparing for disasters that are becoming more extreme and difficult to predict and responding to them with fewer resources. But after catastrophic flooding hit the country twice since August, another missing piece has been exposed: the absence of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), once a steadfast partner in Nepal’s disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response.

Development workers say that the U.S. response to the flooding along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers has been limited compared to past disasters, including the devastating 2015 earthquake, when USAID worked with multiple organizations in rescue and relief operations and served, in one advisor’s words, as the “lead U.S. government agency for coordinating foreign disaster relief.”

Nepal was already confronting the growing challenges of preparing for disasters that are becoming more extreme and difficult to predict and responding to them with fewer resources. But after catastrophic flooding hit the country twice since August, another missing piece has been exposed: the absence of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), once a steadfast partner in Nepal’s disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response.

Development workers say that the U.S. response to the flooding along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers has been limited compared to past disasters, including the devastating 2015 earthquake, when USAID worked with multiple organizations in rescue and relief operations and served, in one advisor’s words, as the “lead U.S. government agency for coordinating foreign disaster relief.”

“Compared to the 2015 response, the difference is night and day,” Santosh Gyawali—the former Nepal representative for USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which oversaw disaster response coordination—told Foreign Policy. “The U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Team arrived for search-and-rescue operations and did quick assessments on building safety and saved lives. They worked as auxiliary to the Nepal government. We see that missing now,” Gyawali added.

USAID was effectively destroyed in July 2025 following months of funding freezes and mass layoffs conducted under the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. The dismantling of one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies drew widespread condemnation, sending ripples across developing countries where U.S. assistance had long provided lifesaving programs—from improving maternal and child health to providing malaria and HIV medications.

In Nepal, U.S. assistance had helped build disaster response capacity for decades, including the Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response, which created a network of trained personnel across........

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