Yemen - IOM Yemen reports that the security situation in Yemen’s Taizz governorate continues to deteriorate, with continuous armed clashes through residential areas, especially in an enclave comprising three districts in Taizz City. 

IOM over the past week has delivered 720 shelter and non-food item (NFI) relief kits to residents forced to flee the enclave. The kits include mattresses, blankets, bed sheets, kitchen sets, plastic sheets, ropes and jerry cans.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick has now met with city authorities on the ground to appeal for sustained humanitarian access in all districts of Taizz governorate.

The IOM distribution of 300 shelter/ NFI kits began in Al Mudirah district. It targeted the most vulnerable internally displaced people (IDPs), mainly sheltering in public schools and open spaces, who had fled the Al Qahirah, Al Mudhaffar and Salah districts of Taizz City. These districts have seen intense fighting over the past several months.

Other IOM teams distributed the remaining 420 kits to IDPs from Taizz who had fled to the neighboring governorate of Lahj. Some 400 kits were distributed in Madarebah and We Ras Elarah districts, and the remaining 20 in Tur Al Baha district. 

The immediate needs and locations of the displaced populations were identified through IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), an information management system designed to regularly, systematically capture, process, and disseminate information on IDP locations.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Yemen in April 2015, IOM has assisted 44,434 IDPs in Aden, Sa`ada Abyan, Lahj, Hadhramaut, Shabwah, Al Dhale’e, Taizz and Socotra with shelter and NFI kits.

A further 583,296 IDPs and conflict-affected people have benefitted from IOM water, sanitation and hygiene projects in Abyan, Aden, Al Dhale'e, Al Jawf, Hadhramaut, Ibb, Lahj, Sana'a and Shabwah governorates.

Since April 2015 IOM medical teams have also assisted 73,896 IDPs and 9,972 vulnerable migrants in the governorates of Sana’a, Hodeidah, Aden, Abyan, Shabwah, Al Dhale and Lahj. This assistance includes health and nutrition activities through fixed health facilities and mobile clinics targeting IDPs and host communities, as well as migrants stranded in Yemen.

IOM’s activities in Yemen are supported by the United States (OFDA), the United Nations (HPF and CERF), the UK (DFID) and Japan.

For further information, please contact IOM Yemen. Stefano Pes, Tel: +967 73 4000 385, Email: spes@iom.int or Bekim Ajdini, Tel:  +967 73 9633 887, Email: bajdini@iom.int