A joint assessment by various UN organizations, IOM, ECHO and
non-governmental organizations to Hadramut, a southern province of
Yemen, has found that food could be an issue for flood victims for
some time to come.

Scores of people have been killed in the province and several
tens of thousands of people displaced by floods caused by a
tropical storm last week.

With farming the main source of income in Hadramut and much of
the land and crops damaged by floodwaters, the challenge is in
ensuring those affected by the floods, estimated at several
hundreds of thousands, have food for the mid-term. The storm hit
the province just as crops were about to be harvested.

The assessment found that only a few villages in the area being
assessed were receiving proper assistance as yet, that 50 per cent
of roads had been damaged, that the displaced were largely gathered
in schools or collective centres and in some areas, there was no
access to water and electricity.

However, it is not yet clear the extent of the damage caused by
the floods or on the total number of displaced as some areas are
still not accessible.

The World Food Programme is providing food for about 20,000
people while other agencies will be dispatching non-food item
relief assistance.

For further information, please contact:

Stefano Tamagnini

IOM Yemen

Tel: + 967 734 079 429

E-mail: "mailto:stamagnini@iom.int">stamagnini@iom.int