Al Mukalla: Government officials and aid workers in the capital of Hadramout province, southeastern Yemen, have sent an appeal to the Riyadh-based Yemen government to urgently dispatch aid to the Hadramout province to cope with thousands of displaced people who have poured into the province fleeing violence in Aden.
In a press conference held in Al Mukalla on Tuesday, Mohammad Al Amoudi, the deputy head of branch of High Relief Committee (HRC), said that the province has not received any aid from Riyadh despite hosting more than 50,000 people from Aden.
The oil-rich province of Hadramout has been largely unaffected by the current war between Al Houthis backed by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and militias loyal to exiled president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The city of Aden has bore the brunt of the violence as both warring factions struggle to have the upper hand in the strategic city. The fighting forced thousands of people in Aden to take refuge in Hadramout and forced others to take the perilous journey to Djibouti and Somalia.
Ali Batarfi, a physician and a member of HRC, said the unprecedented influx of displaced people to Hadramout have pushed health services on verge of collapse.
“We are running out of fuel and oxygen. Scarcity of fuel will lead to the closing of surgery rooms which means many will lose their lives.”
In Al Mukalla, displaced Yemenis cram into schools and private buildings in the city with most of the aid coming from local charities.
Umm Alawi used a hand fan to cool her sick mother. She told Gulf News that she fled her house in Aden 10 days ago and now lives in a small room with her large family.
“We were staying in a hotel until we ran out of money,” she said.
With power cuts lasting up to 14 hours sometimes, Umm Alawi says she expects her mother’s health to worsen.
She suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
“We have no money, no food. We depend on what our neighbours send to us,” she said.
Umm Ahmad, another displaced woman who fled Aden arrived over a week ago with her seven daughters. They walked barefoot.
“We have nothing. No money. No furniture. My daughters sleep on the tile floor,” she said.
Al Amoudi said that neither government agencies nor charity organisations were able to cope with the sheer number of displaced Yemenis.
