Bad weather worsens in Yemen

In a statement issued on its website, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that this Arab nation experienced “two extreme weather events in 2022, transitioning from severe drought to severe flooding.”

He stressed that in the period from January to June, Yemen suffered from droughts accompanied by an unprecedented rise in temperatures, which affected all cultivated areas in the country.

In this sense, he determined that this period was the third dry period in approximately 40 years after 2014 and 2000.

OCHA stressed that this situation has caused crop losses, heat stress, and limited availability of feed for livestock, which has affected food security and increased the risk of disease, malnutrition and, in extreme cases, death.

On the contrary, he said, since mid-July, several regions in Yemen have been hit by torrential rains and floods.

He noted that rainfall in that month was about 300 percent higher than normal.

According to the international organization, more than 300,000 people, mostly displaced, were affected at the end of August in 146 districts in 18 governorates.

The text explained that the floods caused the destruction of property, farms and livelihoods, as well as damage to vital infrastructure, including roads and shelters for the displaced.

He said this climate situation has increased food insecurity in a country where up to 19 million people struggle to find food.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that “the floods have also led to the displacement of unexploded ordnance into residential and agricultural areas, posing a grave danger to the civilian population, especially children.”

He noted that more than 23 million Yemenis out of a total of 31 million are in need of humanitarian assistance or protection, but UN agencies can only provide assistance to 11.6 million each month.

The war began in 2014, when Houthi rebels took up arms and occupied large parts of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

The following year, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict to support then-President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

meme / rob