These updates cover emergencies Oxfam is currently responding to around the world, although please note they don’t intend to be comprehensive.
Maghreb & Middle East
Yemen crisis
Since the scale up of the conflict in March, nearly 25,000 additional people are going hungry each day in Yemen as the blockade and fighting restrict food, fuel and other vital supplies. One in two people – nearly 13 million people – are now struggling to find enough to eat, and half of them are on the brink of starvation.
Continue reading. This week saw a heavy intensification of airstrikes and a spike in civilian deaths due to bombings. A first-hand account from Tariq Roland Riebl, our Head of Programmes in country: “Despite this being the worst, it would be utterly misleading to think this is exceptional. It is but the latest and heaviest in a series of hits on civilian targets including hospitals, market places, water pumping stations, electricity plants, schools, universities, residential homes, and even camps full of people fleeing the violence.” Watch the entire Skype interview here.
Oxfam has completed its assessment in Taiz governorate, and our Programme Manager reports that ‘the findings are heart-breaking’. The cultural capital of Yemen, known for its artists, actors, and musicians and famous for housing the country's best university has been reduced to a Blade Runner-type nightmare. In terms of disease outbreak, this is a ticking time bomb if not dealt with soon. The sombre scene would have been unimaginable to Yemenis even a few months ago. There are obvious opportunities for Oxfam to begin working in Taiz alongside our work in other governorates, and plans are being made now for both Taiz and Aden. Oxfam is also rapidly scaling up its humanitarian response in the north through increased water trucking, latrine construction and short term grants to the poorest households. Photo: Oxfam emergency response in Yemen, June 2015, Oxfam.