Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 14 June 2019
Key figures:
24.1 M people in need
3.65 M displaced since March 2015
More than 80 per cent have been displaced more than a year
312,683 new IDPs (44,669 families) since January 2019
265,440 refugees
9,746 asylum-seekers
Funding
USD 198.6 M required for 2019 operations
IDP Response
Heavy rains, winds and flooding in the southern governorates of Aden and Lahj have left a trail of destruction in their wake as shelters, health clinics, food stocks, and WASH facilities succumbed to the extreme weather conditions. As a result, some 2,700 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been directly affected. The Shelter/CCCM/NFI cluster partners, including UNHCR and the government authorities, immediately conducted field visits, deciding that 600 emergency shelter kits (ESKs) and core-relief items (CRIs) each would be distributed at IDP sites in Aden and Lahj, along with the materials needed to rehabilitate damaged shelters. Health clinic tents and mobile health units are to be temporarily activated. WASH partners have been asked to provide a water pump to remove floodwater from the IDP sites.
As a result of the storms, the risk of cholera and other water-borne diseases has become an urgent concern. According to the Electronic Disease Early Warning System (eDEWS), supported by WHO, there have been 364,017 suspected cases of cholera and 639 deaths in the first five months of 2019. This figure is already close to the entire number of suspected cases for 2018 (371,323). Currently, almost all governorates (96 per cent) and districts (86 per cent) are affected by the epidemic. UNHCR continues to liaise with authorities and is supporting prevention and control activities such as testing and treatment, chlorination of water sources, disinfection of homes with suspected cholera patients, conducting awareness sessions, and distributing flyers. In the four UNHCR-supported health clinics in Sana’a, Aden and Lahj, a total of 135 Yemenis and 121 refugees were diagnosed with cholera this year, all of whom were successfully treated — except one Yemeni who passed away.
During the reporting period, Field Office Hudaydah prepared CRI distributions for 2,554 IDP families in Al Marawi’ah district, located at the centre of the western governorate of Hudaydah. These distributions are part of the 5,000 CRIs and 2,000 ESKs for the Hudaydah/Hajjah-governorate emergency response, scheduled to be completed this month. This assistance will also target the 3,600 IDP families displaced from Hajjah to Hudaydah in the wake of recent floods. In Sa’ada, preparations for CRI distributions are ongoing for the 2,000 IDP families in the eastern district of Kitaf wa Al Boqe’e, starting from 16 June. All IDP displacements (498 IDP families) in Sa’ada governorate this year to date have occurred within this district. So far in 2019, a total of 3,129 CRIs have been distributed in this governorate, 10 per cent of all distributions in Yemen this year.
This week, 33 IDP families in Sana’a governorate received emergency cash assistance to address their immediate shelter and protection needs. Of these, 16 were victims of last May’s Al Raqas street airstrike. So far this year, some 48,000 families have received UNHCR cash assistance.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-14-june-2019
