Humanitarian Response to Complex Emergencies in Yemen: A Report

This report delves into the humanitarian response to complex emergencies in Yemen, focusing on the interplay between conflict, natural disasters, and climate change. It begins with an overview of the conflict and natural hazards, including cyclones, floods, and cholera outbreaks, and their impact on the humanitarian response. The report examines the effects of climate change and variability, as well as the importance of community resilience and engagement in humanitarian efforts. It further explores the relationship between humanitarian aid and the Sustainable Development Goals. The analysis highlights the challenges faced by humanitarian organizations and the affected population, emphasizing the need for coordinated efforts to address the multifaceted crisis in Yemen.

Running head: HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE TO COMPLEX EMERGENCY
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE TO COMPLEX EMERGENCY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the conflict and natural hazards in Yemen........................................................2
How the ongoing conflict and outbreaks alike Cholera and cyclones and floods impacted
the humanitarian response......................................................................................................4
Climate Change and Climatic Variability in Complex Emergencies and how it impacted
the response in Yemen...........................................................................................................7
Resilience in Complex Emergencies like Yemen engagement of communities in the
humanitarian response and accountability for the affected population..................................8
Humanitarian Aid and the Sustainable Development Goals, how the humanitarian and
development agendas complement each other.....................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
Reference..................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
The paper is going to talk about especially on the conflict between natural world and
the humanitarian response by focusing on the natural hazards faced by the people of Yemen.
Firstly, the paper will give a brief overview of the conflict and then it will concentrate on how
the natural disaster has effectively influenced the humanitarian response. It will further talk
about how change in climate in complex emergency like this impacted the response in
Yemen. Next, it will talk about how the resilience in the people will work in the emergency.
Finally, the paper will conclude with how humanitarian aid and sustainable development
agendas complement each other.
Discussion
Overview of the conflict and natural hazards in Yemen
On November 3 2015, a terrible cyclone with the force of hurricane started blowing at
such a speed that made a devastating landfall. Yemen witnessed this horrible cyclone at the
cost of Arabian Sea. This has not made thousands of victims homeless but also has
successfully washed away one of the largest cities of this province, Mukalla. The immensely
powerful civil war that almost hit the province and the prevailing poverty almost crippled the
country from inside. Now, with the addition of the aftermath of cyclone, this affected the
country even more as confirmed by the officials and the meteorologists.
With the repeated rock slides the people anticipated more of them hence more than
300,000 people of Mukalla, that has been the capital of the provinces had to constantly live
under this life threatening situation. The cars were completely submerged in water making
the situation even more difficult to fight that led more than 12 families to take shelter into a

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nearby hospital to safeguard them from approaching landfalls. According to the residents, the
promenades that were located in front of the sea were completely destroyed along with
multiple homes at the coastal area were either horribly damaged or washed away. The
officials had confirmed that more than 6000 people had to leave their homes and were shifted
to places that were usually higher than the coastal area. Naturally, it hindered the power
supply of the city bringing the whole city under darkness and a temporary halt leading the
people to deal with terrifying conditions everyday. However, some residents were still
positive about the fact that although the night was difficult, yet they managed to pass it off
peacefully.
The officials and the authorities of the UN’s office, which works with coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), declared that the places that were heavily affected by the
cyclones that have also brought in landfalls had a huge population, making the number closer
to almost 1.8 million. It is understandable how difficult the situation was for the government
and humanitarian affairs officials because the number of people that were in desperate need
to have support was not small. Therefore, their job became difficult to reach help equally to
all of them. However, they located that around 1.4 million people were in search of
humanitarian help that could save their lives (LeComte 2016). It had been anticipated that the
cyclone could have occur possibly once again with a three to four times of the average
rainfall that takes place in a yearly manner can hit the eastern part of Yemen and southern-
western part of Oman in merely a day or two.
The first place to have been affected by the cyclone was the remote part of Yemeni
island situated in Socotra. This incident occur on this place on Monday that not only hit the
place devastating some houses but also was able to kill three people. The cyclone was so
powerful that it was able to displace more than thousand people at a blow. This island is so
remote that it is located 380 kilometers away from Yemen though connected with Arabian

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Sea. This island, being the shelter to a huge number of unique plant species was crucially
important to remain intact. However, a natural hazard never understands what the human
world needs for its survival therefore, it destroys the way it pleases without showing an ounce
of mercy.
The authorities from the meteorology were certain about the fact that the cyclone
Chapla would grow even more powerful and dangerous and would hit Balhaf where the
terminal of natural gas of Yemen exists (Sarker 2018). However, the authority shows a ray of
hope by announcing that the cyclone would weaken, as it would move further to Sana, the
capital, situated in the north. The wind had been expected to blow at 118kim/hour with a
continuous motion that was anticipated to be followed by strong precipitation. There was a
high chance that the rainfall would be so strong that it would be pouring at the yearly
average. The cities that were under extreme threat of rainfall were Aden and Sanas where the
rainfall was about to strike at 25 to 76 millimeters that is approximately 1 to 3 inches. The
places in Shabwah and in Hadramaut were expected to receive a rainfall of 230 millimeters
equivalent to 9 inches and that could further strengthen to 640 millimeters almost as terrible
as of 24 inches (Sarker 2018). One problem was already there in the country due to the civil
war and the cyclone had added vigorously to the aftermath of it to lead the residents to go
through some pitiable situated that needed humanitarian response immediately.
How the ongoing conflict and outbreaks alike Cholera and cyclones and floods
impacted the humanitarian response
The cyclone that was so devastating that it damaged a huge range of property in
Yemen making a thousand homeless and helpless at the same time. They had lost
homes, their relatives and hopes simultaneously. This difficult situation needed the

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support of humanitarian response that could have motivated the homeless and terrified
people to survive in this broken situation. It would have been very difficult for the
people to fight against this tremendous situation where unifying all the people was a
very important task to perform (Wang et al 2016). Spreading awareness of what one
should do in this kind of emergency and how one can help himself by staying calm
and not being excited was another necessary measure that could have taken into
consideration. Cooperation at any possible means was expected from the affected
victims of the cyclone. However, everyone was so baffled and terrified that this task
was especially difficult to perform for any humanitarian association. It took a good
time to calm the fearful people down and make them understand that staying united
and strategic at this moment could be the best thing they could have possibly done.
Chapla in Yemen was a tropical cyclone that without any doubt had needed a
huge humanitarian support to deal with this declining situation. Therefore, a couple of
MapAction volunteers had to travel to the province of Muscat in the state of Oman
because they were summoned to support and accelerate the humanitarian activity that
the people and the place needed desperate (Hilhorst et al). They had been appointed to
work in collaboration with the disaster management team that had been deployed by
the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination. All of them had to work a
large team to work with coordination to evaluate the response and act accordingly.
This storm had been so overpowering that it was announced to be the most powerful
and devastating storms in the last decade since the cyclone was not blowing with the
force of hurricane but also was capable of bringing torrential rain, it had affected the
coastline of South Yemen with its repeated high waves vehemently.

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With the analysis of the disaster assessment group it has been witnessed that
the most affected areas were the island that is located in Socotra and the mainland,
which is under the governance of Shabwah along with Hadramaut. The community
that used to dwell in these places was horribly threatened and affected by the cyclone.
The situation that was already at a state of precarious existence, could have threatened
more with the forthcoming storms, anticipated by the weather forecast officials (Keates
2016). On the premise of ongoing civil war, the cyclone Chapla even being so powerful could
not divert the attention of the government to seek help for the community.
Yemen had been involved in the armed-conflict since the time of March of
2015, the government of United Nations had marked and declared this uncontrollable
situation to be as 3rd level of emergency. Now, it is sad from the humanitarian
perspective that the government focused more on the situations that could have arisen
only due to war and was ready to offer humanitarian help only in this kind of crisis.
The falling nation that had been badly wounded by the scars of war was once again
affected by the terrific storm and cyclone leading the country to go through the trauma
and misery inflicted upon the vulnerable people who were already affected. The initial
reports confirmed that three people were killed and 34 people were severely injured
by the Chapla cyclone. 20,000 people from the shore of the island Socotra were
confirmed to have been removed to the higher ground for their safety measure. The
most shaking condition of this island was that three deaths that were reported were
from this island only and among the 34 wounded nine people were from this island
(Ranalkar, Pawar and Kumar 2017).

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This situation took such a dangerous step that the United Nations had to come
closer to the different disaster management team and one such was the cell of central
emergency that had been specially designed and founded by the authorities of Yemen
(Koman 2018). The team has decided to work in coordination to be ready to provide and
send humanitarian assistance to a primary station at Mukalla. After that, all the helps
and the reliefs would be given away to different places that were affected. All the
voluntary partners, the NGOs that had shown interest to help, local governments,
people belonging to civil organizations and finally people representing the relief
committees arranged to provide support in local areas, would coordinate this act of
distribution.
Climate Change and Climatic Variability in Complex Emergencies and how it
impacted the response in Yemen
The change in climate is a bug issue that makes the scientists and authority
under threat because the change is very rapid and the intensity is very high. The
geographic location can always be blamed based on how much it is going to be
affected by the change in climate. Now, epidemiologists also believe that the issues
that are usually based on geographical location tend to have health issues quite rapidly
and they tend to grow faster than other diseases. The health of the people is often
heard to have been affected by the extreme change that I taking place in weather. The
variability in climate is also something unavoidable to change the health of the
affected places. This can be assessed in two primary ways like that firstly people
might extrapolate on being influenced by the analogue studies according to which

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climate variability is nothing but an integral part of the forthcoming and already
existing climactic change. Secondly, people should be educated regarding the usage of
predictive computerized models that were designed with the help of existing
knowledge that bridge a relationship between climactic alteration and different health
conditions. Keeping these in mind Yemen had prepared well for emergency hence it
was able to survive even though suffering from great loss.
Resilience in Complex Emergencies like Yemen
engagement of communities in the humanitarian response and accountability for
the affected population
The team of Humanitarian Country acted in the emergency be developing a
plan to response in situations like cyclone. The best part of this team was that it had
taken preparations beforehand the cyclone actually hit the lands of Yemen. The HCT
or the Humanitarian Country Team had been able to form a group of people who
would understand the crisis. They gathered stocks of basic essentials, a lofty lost of
details of contacts along with the mention of local authorities that were previously
anticipated to be affected in the worst possible manner by the cyclone (Ghouth,
Approaching Fatal Dengue outbreak In Hadramout 2015). Since the team was already in
existence, it was easy for the United Nations to identify the implemented partners that
were willing to work. In fact it became easier for the organization to look for the

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government counterparts that would come up as humanitarian community to
communicate help to the needy and affected victims of the storm.
There were several routes that were directly connected to the heavily affected
areas and the team had utilized the routes severely to deliver the help in time. The
HCT had planned to collect the essentials from the stockpiles and supply them to the
essentially needed places (Dahman and Hatem 2015). However, this process had some
breaks in between because not all the cities were passable completely. Therefore,
collecting stocks from Aden the team had to transfer the goods along with coastal way
to Mukalla that was still in a condition to be passed by until the report of 3rd
November. However, the team had anticipated some problems in the routes to
Mukalla because of the heavy flooding hence the team had to avail another option
access another way to supply the essentials. It had been observed that if the route from
the eastern part of Sana could have been accessed then goods could be easily
transferred because this area was expected to be affected less than other places. The
HCT had settled on taking supplies from the HRD also known as Humanitarian
Resource Depot, located in Dubai. The supplies will be coming to Oman at first by
road and then it would be sent to Mukalla either by sea or by road.
Although the country was poorly affected by the civil war, yet it was not
completely unaware of this kind of emergency. Therefore, the nation along with help
of the United Nations was successful in sending help immediately from the next day
onwards. One of teams, belonging to the United Nations Disaster Assessment and
Coordination started working from the state of Oman on November 4th to take care of
the supply to the eastern part of Yemen. The plan was to distribute the action into

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different parts so that the reliefs could be sent faster. One team of UNDAC that had
been employed at Muscat were assigned to arrange, manage and smoothen the
progress of the aid convoys that were coming from the association of HRD. Another
team was sent to Salalah extended to the border to help them at dispatching the
convoys so that it can be sent into Yemen. The team was also responsible for looking
into any kind of noticeable movement at sea b y coordinating with the organizations
like IRFC and ICRC. Both these organizations have their foremost logistic supply
station at Salalah. The convoys that were coming from Oman to the eastern part of
Yemen probably had to go through the system of cross load the entire relief supplies.
It had to be transferred by passing it from one convoy to the other since the contracts
in trucking that Dubai and Oman had arranged would surely fail them to enter Yemen.
The ongoing conflict could be faced with the resilience that the nation already
thought in its mind and had acted according to the plan in the time of emergency. The
communities that had been working on humanitarian response prepositioned the
supplies and arranged the volunteers to reach with help to the vulnerably affected
people by the Chapla. WFP had been able to store 29.9 metric tons of biscuits that
were loaded with high energy. It was supplied to Mukalla as an initiation of help that
was able to keep up almost 25,000 people after the cyclone till 6th November (John,
Joseph and Mathew 2018).
WHO has taken the ministry of health into consideration and both of them have
worked out together to send three kits to dispel trauma, five interagency health kits to
solve medical emergency and a couple of diarrhea kits. All these were sent to
hospitals that were under the vigilance of Ministry of Health and several health

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facilities to the state in Mukalla under the Hadramaut Governorate (Al-Shaqsi 2015).
WHO had not terminated its responsibility here and rather focused on contributing
20,000 liters and 2,500 liters of diesel and petrol respectively to 8 different hospitals
located at Mukalla and to sixteen-ambulance service. WHO and UNICEF have
deployed teams especially with the motive of surveillance swift response for taking
care of the entire relief system (World Health Organization 2016). In an emergency like
this not only needs medical assistance and food but also seeks to have provision of
shelter to the homeless and provision of the non-food equipments. UNHCR had been
successful in delivering NFI kits of around 1,000 to the state of Mukalla and another
to Shabwah. They had collaborated with the local partners and the local partners
distributed the kits among the people in the above-mentioned places. A good number
of 5,000 kits that come under the provision of securing shelter were distributed in the
area from Sana’s. The organizations that were involved in the provision of sanitation
and water supply in the emergency worked very efficiently by gathering the stock
beforehand in Aden and supplying them on time. Moreover, they took the
responsibility to support the efforts of cleaning up during the post-disaster campaign.
Humanitarian Aid and the Sustainable Development Goals, how the
humanitarian and development agendas complement each other
Yemen, being an overtly poor country has faced severity in every aspect, starting
from the awful aftermath of natural disaster and atrocious consequences of war. Repeated
natural disasters along with war have worsened the economic condition of Yemen to such an
extent that it would be declared with the deepest share of poverty and will have the least