UN seeks $274 million in Yemen humanitarian appeal

The United Nations launched an appeal for almost $275m to aid 7.5 million people in Yemen over the next three months, as fighting intensifies in the south and air strikes continue in 18 of the country’s 22 provinces.

About 150,000 people have been displaced, 50 percent more than the previous UN estimate, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Friday, citing local sources.

The agency said health facilities had reported 767 deaths from March 19 to April 13, almost certainly an underestimate.

“Thousands of families have now fled their homes as a result of the fighting and air strikes,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, said in a statement. “Ordinary families are struggling to access health care, water, food and fuel – basic requirements for their survival.”

The fighting had destroyed, damaged or disrupted at least five hospitals, 15 schools, Yemen’s three main airports, two bridges, two factories and four mosques, as well as markets, power stations and water and sanitation facilities, OCHA said.

“Public water services covering 1 million people are at serious risk of collapse,” the UN appeal document said. “Hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, including people who have been direct victims of violence and those suffering severe burns from explosions.”

[Al Jazeera]

 

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation by Grant Montgomery.