Displaced people in Marib... a harsh night in the open after floods swept away their homes

“The rain took away my tent and now my daughters and I are homeless,” says Fatima, a displaced person in a camp in Marib city, after winds and floods caused devastation in displacement camps in the city, which is home to about two million displaced people.

Yesterday, Sunday, heavy rains accompanied by strong winds and thunderstorms in the camps for the displaced in Marib Governorate (eastern Yemen) caused the death of four people and the injury of 20 others, in addition to significant material losses.

With regret and pain, Fatima, a displaced widow in the Jaw al-Naseem camp, told “Yemeni Youth Net”, “I did not expect that one night I would be left without a tent or food supplies after the winds and rain took everything I owned three years ago.”

Fatima continued, “I left with my daughters with difficulty and we were not able to take anything with us except the clothes we were wearing.”

She said: "People were seriously injured when iron houses (containers) fell on them after strong winds moved them."

Fatima called on the organizations and the local authority to provide emergency support and relief to the victims in the camp without delay and to move them to safer homes, especially with the onset of rain.

The rain continues

The National Center of Meteorology expects thunderstorms of varying intensity, accompanied by descending winds in the mountainous highlands in several governorates, including Marib and Al-Jawf, during the coming hours today, Monday.

He warned against being in valleys and flood paths, pointing out that rock collapses may occur in the slopes of the ropes and mud houses. He called for taking the necessary measures and procedures to protect lives and property.

For his part, Ahmed Abdel Hadi, one of the victims in the Jaw al-Naseem camp, said, “I am without food or drink,” as the winds and heavy rain caused his tent to be torn down, along with everything in it.

The Governor of Marib, Sultan Al-Arada, directed him to provide urgent aid to the affected displaced persons, quickly assess the damages and submit urgent reports on the needs in order to provide them as soon as possible.

This came during the inspection of the member of the Presidential Leadership Council, Major General Sultan Al-Arada, of the damages inflicted on the displaced people in the Jo Al-Naseem camp north of the city and the Al-Jafina camp south of the city. Al-Arada was informed of what the rains and storms had left behind and what had affected the electricity, water and other public services.

Al-Arada directed to quickly meet the basic and necessary needs of the displaced, including shelter and food, in addition to quickly repairing services, most notably electricity, and paying attention to the needs of families who were housed in temporary shelter schools during rains and storms.

The member of the Presidential Leadership Council stressed the need for emergency committees to work to protect the displaced in the camps and citizens in residential neighborhoods and provide attention and care, and the need to assess the damage and submit comprehensive reports on urgent and necessary emergency needs to meet them as soon as possible.