India, June 30 -- The United States has announced what appears to be one of its strongest responses to a natural disaster in recent years, pledging major aid and deploying rescue teams to earthquake-hit Venezuela.

Speaking to the press during his trip to the Gulf, Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised, "We have a whole-of-government response. It'll be big; it'll be fast; and it'll be effective," according to NPR.

The US effort includes a commitment to allocate $150 million to faith-based aid groups like Samaritan's Purse and Catholic Relief Services, as well as two United Nations agencies- the World Food Program and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The US is also deploying a Disaster Assistant Response Team and...