Displaced families survive with emergency kits after conflict and floods
Yemen | 2022 | CBPF
Yemen. “This kit really came on time and has helped us to eat and dress, as we lost everything we had,” says Eman, who lived through flash floods. She had already sold most of her possessions to flee conflict, and now, her family had lost what little they had.
Eight years into the conflict, Yemen is in a severe humanitarian crisis, and over 21 million people need assistance. In early 2022, fighting in Ma’rib and Shabwah displaced thousands more people. In April, flash foods ravaged parts of the country—including people already displaced by the fighting.
Funding from the Yemen Humanitarian Fund supported families affected by flooding and conflict with Rapid Response kits containing essential supplies.
The floods were a terrifying experience for people living in displacement camps.
“The sky was full of clouds, then, suddenly, heavy rain washed away our shelters. Everything we owned – personal documents, blankets, food – it was all destroyed,” describes Qubool, who lives with her children in Baga camp. She fled fighting in January only to lose her few possessions to the terrible rains.
The floods affected more than 300,000 people, many of whom, like Qubool, had already fled violence.
To help people displaced by the floods, UNFPA led a multi-agency Rapid Response Mechanism with UNICEF and WFP. The emergency kits, funded in part by the YHF, provided clothing, soap and sanitary pads, jerry cans and read-to-eat food for up to seven days: in other words, the basics to help families at least through the first few days.
It’s not always easy to distribute the kits, especially in hard-to-reach areas. “We face many challenges, but the main one is that rough trails make it difficult to reach the newly displaced families, and we don’t always know where these families are,” says Anas Abdullah Al Moalimi, from IOM. “There are many displaced people and families. Some fled without a thing, they could hardly survive, and they had nothing except for a few blankets they got from their neighbors.”
More information on the Yemen Humanitarian Fund:
OCHA – POOLED FUNDS DATA HUB – By Country (unocha.org)
https://www.unocha.org/Yemen/about-yhf