WASHINGTON, April 5, 2025 (AFP) - The United States said Friday it was raising its assistance to earthquake-hit Myanmar but added it was unfair to expect the nation to keep leading humanitarian relief around the world.

The State Department said it was adding $7 million on top of an earlier $2 million, channeled through groups already on the ground in the military-run country where more than 3,000 people are confirmed dead.

The assistance will help provide emergency shelter, food, medical care and water, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce wrote on X.

The United States has traditionally been at the forefront of disaster relief, but President Donald Trump has dismantled the US humanitarian aid agency, with workers receiving dismissal notices just as the 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck last week.

China -- which has jostled the United States for influence in Asia -- as well as Russia and neighboring India promptly sent rescue teams to Myanmar before the United States even announced its support.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that humanitarian aid needs to be "properly balanced" against other priorities for the United States.

"China is a very rich country; India is a rich country," Rubio told reporters earlier Friday in Brussels.

"There are a lot of other countries in the world, and everyone should pitch in," he said.

"I don't think it's fair to assume that the United States needs to continue to share the burden -- 60, 70 percent -- of humanitarian aid around the world," he said.

He took issue with critics who said that the US response could have been faster, saying: "These are people that are part of that NGO industrial complex."

"They have a military junta that doesn't like us, doesn't necessarily allow us to operate in that country the way we wanted to. That would have impeded our response no matter what," he said.