Geneva: Yemen’s displacement crisis is worsening rapidly, with at least 76,000 people forced to flee their homes since July amid escalating conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The UN migration agency said the number has risen sharply in recent days, with around 46,000 people displaced during the latest escalation alone. The figures are expected to climb further as fighting continues along Yemen’s West Coast and southern Taiz frontlines.
Taiz has been the hardest-hit governorate, where around 8,300 households, nearly 50,000 people, have been displaced from districts including Jabal Habashy, Al Ma’afer, Maqbanah, Mawza and Al Wazi’iyah.
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In neighbouring Lahj, another 2,819 households, or close to 17,000 people, have been displaced, most of them from Al-Mudharibah district. More than 8,100 people have also fled parts of Al Hodeidah, while over 1,100 have been displaced in Aden.
IOM Director General Amy Pope warned that many families were being uprooted for the second or even third time during Yemen’s long-running conflict.
“As fighting spreads, reaching people with lifesaving assistance is becoming harder,” Pope said, calling for safe and unhindered humanitarian access.
She urged all parties to protect civilians and humanitarian workers and safeguard the supplies, vehicles and facilities relied upon to deliver emergency assistance.
The IOM said disrupted communications and increasingly inaccessible roads were making it difficult to reach affected communities and assess their needs.
Humanitarian teams are distributing shelter materials, hygiene kits and other essential supplies, but the agency warned that needs are growing far faster than the assistance currently available.
Many displaced families have already endured repeated displacement during more than a decade of conflict and have now fled with little more than the clothes they were wearing.
“The situation is deteriorating by the day,” the IOM warned, adding that displacement numbers are likely to rise further in the coming days.
The agency called on the international community to urgently increase support for Yemen, warning that continued deterioration could further deepen an already severe humanitarian crisis.
