Floods Update
Up to $ 970 million are estimations of floods’ damages
[06 November 2008]
SANA’A, Nov. 06 (Saba)-Government and donors held on Thursday an expanded meeting headed by Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi for discussing results of evaluating floods-damages in eastern area.
The meeting dealt with two surveys made by the World Bank and the United Nation on losses and damages which have been estimated at nearly US $ one billion and on the needs of quick relief.
Minister Al-Arhabi called on donors to support exiting efforts for supporting Yemen facing floods’ catastrophe that caused great damages in infrastructure and of public and private possessions.
Minister of Health reviewed nature of measures health authorities have taken in the affected areas while Minister of Public Works and Roads asserted in his report on providing funds needed for starting reconstruction process in these areas.
GENEVA (AFP) — The UN’s refugee agency said Tuesday that 180 people have been killed by devastating floods in Yemen which have forced more than 10,000 people to flee their homes, citing Yemen government figures.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Ron Redmond told journalists that the death toll was provided by the Yemeni government on Monday, but cautioned that “these figures cannot be confirmed as several areas remain inaccessible.”
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said its latest figures put the death toll at 69, with 1,700 houses destroyed or damaged and infrastructure left in tatters.
The UNHCR said it had already sent 11 trucks to the affected areas carrying non-food items to 3,500 people, such as mattresses, blankets, jerry cans and mosquito nets.
The World Health Organization meanwhile said it was sending medicines and other supplies to treat more than 50,000 people for conditions such as diarrhea and malaria.
Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Sunday allocated 100 million dollars (80 million euros) in aid to flood-hit areas in the southeast of the country.
SANAA, 28 October 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of people are facing harsh conditions in Hadramaut and al-Mahra governorates, southeastern Yemen, after flooding seriously affected livelihoods and displaced thousands, aid workers and officials have said.
Mohammed al-Qubati, president of the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, a local NGO, told IRIN: “Some 75 percent of Hadramaut’s population is affected. Some families have become destitute overnight. Families with average incomes have become very poor after their farms and beehives were destroyed.”
Al-Qubati said the floods had also affected health: “Drinking water has been mixed with sewage and this will lead to health hazards. The humanitarian situation is so difficult. Highways are still cut off.”
The Hadramaut local authorities said on 27 October the floods had destroyed 420 farms, 58 water wells and about 7,000 beehives. Some 3,000 families (about 21,000 people) had been displaced.
On the same day the Interior Ministry said the death toll had risen to 85 in Hadramaut and five in al-Mahra. Thirty-one people are still missing and 1,806 houses are either totally or partially destroyed.
Relief teams said they had distributed over 18 tonnes of food to flood-affected citizens.
Limited access
Salem Numair, secretary-general of al-Mahra’s local council, said bad weather had prevented aid helicopters from reaching hundreds of families in the Hoot and al-Masila areas. “Around 1,500 families in the two areas have been cut off from relief aid for the past four days. Helicopters could not reach them due to visibility difficulties,” he told IRIN on 28 October.
Photo: OCHA
A map of Yemen showing the areas most affected by recent floods (click magnifying glass to expand)Numair said wells had been contaminated after being inundated by floodwater. “Water networks were also damaged by the floods,” he said, adding that more heavy rain is expected.
International aid
The German embassy in Sanaa said on 27 October it had offered 100,000 euros to help mitigate the effects of the flooding in Hadramaut and al-Mahra. Some of the money would be used for clean-up operations in cooperation with municipal authorities, and some would be used to distribute water filters and clean drinking water; those most-affected would receive a small financial handout.
Fifty thousand euros would be earmarked for rehabilitating health facilities in the affected areas.
“Germany will mobilise additional long-term assistance for flood mitigation and disaster relief in order to avoid future disasters and protect the population and their cultural heritage,” the embassy said in a statement.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a 27 October report that some UN agencies had begun assisting civilians in flood-hit areas.
It said the World Health Organization (WHO) was currently providing medical kits - enough for 10,000 people for a period of three months. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) had provided shelter and non-food items for 200 families, with a further 300 earmarked for aid, it said.
The OCHA report said the World Food Programme (WFP) had food stocks available that could be re-directed if necessary.
“The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation based in Dubai, UAE, is dispatching by air and road relief supplies, electricity generators and water pumps to the affected population,” the report said.
