Yemen - As the conflict in the Yemeni seaport of Aden escalates, the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) has increased rapidly during the last three days.

Clashes involving heavy weapons in the city’s Dar Saad district have forced over 400 families to flee the area and seek shelter in the neighboring Sheikh Othman area. IDP families are being housed mainly in local schools and government buildings – already overcrowded with a huge number of IDPs in the area.

Water supplies have been cut off in entire areas, exacerbating the suffering of displaced families. IOM, which provides water trucking services to several health clinics and IDP settlements in the area, has been asked by various local hospitals and relief organizations to expand its operations.

IOM staff are assessing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs at newly opened IDP sites throughout the Sheikh Othman area. Rapid response activities include rehabilitation of WASH facilities in IDP collective centers. This includes increasing water storage capacity, rehabilitation of sewage and water pipes, and the rehabilitation of toilets.

IOM is also working with a local NGO “Youth Initiative” to provide non-food relief items (NFIs) for newly arrived displaced families in Sheikh Othman. Earlier this week, IOM distributed 100 NFI and shelter kits to families in the Omar Al Mokhtar school and 25 kits to families in the Othman Abdo and Obaidi schools.

IOM also distributed an additional 40 shelter kits, consisting of plastic tarpaulins and ropes, to IDPs camping out in the 22nd May Park in Mansoora district. Many are staying in the park to be near the 22nd May Hospital, where injured relatives are being treated.

Since the beginning of the conflict in April this year, IOM has distributed NFI and shelter kits to a total of 1,377 households (9,700 individuals).

It has also expanded its water trucking services to deliver water to seven medical facilities that received most of the people injured by the fighting of the past three days. These are the 22nd May Hospital, Al Wahda Hospital, MSF Hospital, Al Masafi (Refinery) Hospital, Salah Aldeen Hospital, Kidney Dialysis Center and Al-Maidan Hospital. Water trucks are also supplying two community water points in the area.

IOM medical staff are also supporting the 22nd May Hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) and have treated a total of 3,054 cases in the hospital, including 952 people wounded during fighting in the city. IOM medics have also provided medical assistance to 10,692 IDPs in schools and other collective centers.

For more information please contact Bekim Ajdini at IOM Yemen, Tel. +967 739 633 887, Email: bajdini@iom.int