Crisis in Yemen: helping people access clean drinking water

Displaced children in Yemen wait and collect Water

Over 1.4 million people have fled their homes in Yemen and are now struggling to find food and water. Oxfam teams in Yemen are helping by providing tanks of clean drinking water to internally displaced people and through direct cash payments which allow families to buy food and basic supplies.

Since the beginning of the current conflict women and children have had to walk long distances just to collect a few litres of water for their families. We are helping by providing internally displaced people with 7.5 litres of water per person per day.

Car queue in Yemen due to oil shortage

Cars wait for fuel in Al Hasaba district, in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. The oil crisis has escalated as a result of the conflict and siege imposed on Yemen.

The oil crisis has also worsened the food shortages because farmers are unable to pump water to their fields. Oxfam is providing direct cash payments to families which allow them to buy food and basic supplies.

A crowd gather around an Oxfam water tank in Yemen

In Sana'a, a boy stands on top of a water truck while other children and women wait to collect water for their families. 

Yemenis have suffered with the lack of water due to the increasing prices of water tanks, which are now the main source of water. To help people meet their basic needs, we have provided water tanks and clean drinking water to thousands of internally displaced people.

Displaced families wait to collect water from an Oxfam water tank in Yemen
Families who fled their homes after air strikes in Haradd wait in turn for their share of water from an Oxfam water tank in the Shafar district (Hajja).

Internally displaced people in Yemen build an Oxfam water tank

Oxfam worker and locals help to install a water tank which now provides clean water to a camp of internally displaced people in the Huth district, Amran. We are trying to cover the water needs of 2,975 internally displaced people as well as the host communities.

Photos: Hind Aleryani/Oxfam