Yemen crisis ‘getting worse by the hour’

The humanitarian situation in Yemen is “getting worse by the hour,” the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the country warned today, saying that the escalating conflict has put millions of people at risk of physical injury or death.

“We should not forget that the current conflict in Yemen takes place against the backdrop of a humanitarian crisis of a protracted nature and of a size and a complexity which is amongst the largest in the world,” said Johannes van der Klaauw told the press in Geneva.

“That was already the case before, and this current conflict has aggravated the situation and has made the population increasingly vulnerable,” he added.

The ground attacks and airstrikes which has now spread to most of the country is quickly unravelling “anything there was left” of basic services including health care, safe water and availability of food.

Already before the latest escalation of the conflict, 16 million of the 25 million Yemenis required, and are requiring, humanitarian assistance to meet their most basic needs. As I said, the conflict is aggravating the needs of the most vulnerable and putting others at grave risk.

“Ordinary Yemeni families are struggling to access health care, water, food and fuel –commodities that are basic requirements for their survival,” the Humanitarian Coordinator said.

Thousands of Yemeni families have had to flee as a result of the fighting, and we see now the regional dimension of the flows out of Yemen into Djibouti and the autonomous parts of Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland.