In a general warning, UNICEFUnited Nations Children’s Fund, and United Nations Population FundThe UN sexual and reproductive health agency said rising waters had devastated lives in several Yemeni provinces, particularly in Hudaydah, Hajjah, Sa’ada and Taizz. The northern province of Marib was also affected.
“Homes, shelters and belongings have been swept away,” the UN agencies reported, adding that Within 72 hours of the floods, more than 80,000 people received emergency food rations, toiletries and feminine hygiene products..
“These items help alleviate the immediate hardship caused by these catastrophic events,” UN aid groups said, warning that heavy rains that began in late June were expected to continue into September.
Dizzying Demand
Today, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Aid, OCHAreports that more than 18.2 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, less than half of the country’s total population.
“The devastating floods have dramatically increased people’s needs,” said Enshrah Ahmed, UNFPA Representative in Yemen.
Although aid groups are working at full capacity, they remain concerned about growing needs and forecasted severe weather.
“The coming weeks and months will be crucial to ensuring affected families can get back on their feet and at least restore their lives,” Mr Ahmed said.
UNICEF and UNFPA warn that since early August, more than 180,000 people have been affected by flooding and at least 50,000 have been displaced in Hudaydah province alone. This number is likely to increase in the coming days.
Materials and funding needed
Challenges for relief teams include damaged roads, landmines and unexploded ordnance in frontline and civilian areas. Unseasonably heavy rains have also depleted relief supplies distributed by the UN agency’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) teams, who urgently need $4.9 million to scale up the emergency response.
UNFPA and UNICEF note that by 2024, more than 82 percent of people supported by RRM groups will have been severely affected or displaced by climate-related shocks.
“The situation in the flooded areas is dire; UNICEF and partners are on the ground providing emergency assistance to those affected,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Yemen. “The role of rapid response teams is crucial in times of distress like this.”
Established in 2018, RRM aims to provide a minimal, urgent and critical disaster relief package to newly displaced people and those in displaced or hard-to-reach areas.
Simmering crisis
Even before this latest emergency, needs in Yemen were already dire and tied to a protracted political, humanitarian and development crisis since the uprising erupted in 2011.
The situation escalated into conflict in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition sided with government forces against the Houthi opposition and their allies, but a UN-brokered ceasefire, which expires in 2022, remains in place as peace talks continue.
The Houthi rebels, also known as Ansar Allah, also began attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea, a vital route for global trade, after war broke out in Gaza last October. There remain deep concerns that fighting could flare up again.
