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Six people have been killed and more than 3,800 families displaced by fierce tropical storms in Yemen’s eastern Mahra province, a local official said Thursday.
According to Wael Karim, emergency coordinator for the Yemeni Red Crescent in Mahra, families in provincial capital Al-Ghayza are currently taking refuge at 25 makeshift shelters.
Karim told Anadolu Agency that evacuations were still ongoing -- with the help of Yemeni and Saudi aircraft -- in Mahra’s Seyhut, Mesila and Haswain districts.
Nearly 12 million people in Yemen are on the verge of famine, the World Food Program (WFP) said Tuesday.Herve Verhoosel, WFP's spokesperson, explained the concern to reporters in Geneva saying: "Yemen is currently facing the world's worst hunger crisis, with almost 18 million people throughout the country not knowing where their next meal is coming from."If the situation persists, we could see an additional 3.5 million severely food insecure Yemenis, or nearly 12 million in total, who urgently require regular food assistance to prevent them from slipping into famine-like conditions."He noted that the UN is making all efforts to tackle the crisis.French citizen freed after being held by Yemeni HouthisWFP reported it currently has a storage of grains which is enough to feed 6.4 million people for two months.Aid workers also face difficulties in distributing food to people in need due to lack of security.Wheat stocks that can feed 3.7 million people for a month are stored at the UN's Red Sea Mills facility but cannot be transported.Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by conflict since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital of Sanaa.The conflict escalated the following year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a wide-ranging air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back the Houthis’ territorial gains.The ongoing violence has devastated Yemen’s basic infrastructure, prompting the UN to describe the situation as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.Attacks kill 15 civilians in Yemen’s Hudaydah: UN
12M Yemenis on verge of famine: UN
Mahra has been pounded by high winds and torrential rains since Sunday, after Cyclone Luban formed in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman earlier this month.
It is the fifth time that Yemen has been struck by tropical storms since 2015.
Since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence and turmoil.