COVER STORY

 On October 24th, a tropical storm hit southeastern Yemen. Torrential rains lasted for thirty hours resulting in dangerous flash floods. Nearly 200 people died; many were crushed inside their collapsed houses. President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared a state of emergency in Hadhramaut and Al Mahra regions.

A man searches for salvageable belongings amongst the rubble of his collapsed house in Al Gahail. Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the world is faced with a humanitarian crisis. Over 3,500 homes were destroyed in the flooding. The World Bank filed a report estimating the total costs inflicted by flood damage to be nearly $1 billion.

Abdullah Mobarak Ba Wahdi, stands in front of his destroyed home in Al Gahail with three of his 12 children. Ba Wahdi had built his house just 2 months before the floods destroyed it. He also lost his livestock in the flooding. Currently, he and his eight sons are living in tents outside the village and his wife and four daughters are living in a nearby school.

A boy reacts to the devastation. In the background, Shehab Al Deen mosque stands tall amongst the rubble that was Al Gahail Village. The United States Government initially provided $50 thousand in emergency funding. More recently, it pledged an additional $299,000.

Abdullah Mobarak Ba Wahdi inspects the remnants of the diwan of his collapsed home with four of his sons. One government official said that roughly 60 per cent of the electricity has been cut off in the Hadhramaut governorate.

Tents have been set up outside of Shibam to accommodate the internally displaced men. The ancient city of Shibam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home to the world’s first skyscrapers. Several of these mud-brick structures were badly damaged by the heavy rains and flooding.

Children in the Sah district stand around a military helicopter that is taking the survivors to Sayoun. In the initial days of the storm, army helicopters were deployed to the area to rescue thousands of people despite strong wind and high water levels. The flooding severely affected the roads linking Mukallah to the local airport and many of the roads in the Hadhramaut and Al Mahra regions were washed away severely retarding rescue efforts.

A man holds his son’s school books. These books were some of the only surviving possessions after his family lost their house during the floods. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has pledged $100 million in aid to the victims of the flooding and for reconstruction efforts.