Yemen: 24 IDPs dead or injured in fires in Marib camps since start of year

Yemenis put out flames after a fire broke out, burning dozens of huts, in Al-Jishah camp for the internally displaced in al-Khokha district on the southern edge of the Red Sea city of Hodeida, on November 12, 2022. (Photo by Khaled Ziad / AFP) (Photo by KHALED ZIAD/AFP via Getty Images)

Camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Yemen have witnessed 71 fires which have killed six people and injured 18 others since the start of this year, the Executive Unit for IDPs Camps Management in the north east of the country has reported. Fires are not an unknown occurrence in the camps.

Marib governorate accommodates the most Yemenis displaced within their country since the beginning of the war in 2015. The number of IDPs there exceeds two million, some of whom live in 197 camps across the governorate holding more than 55,000 families.

The camps lack many of the basic facilities. The residents face extreme cold in winter and extreme heat in summer. There is only limited access to adequate tents, mattresses, blankets and clothing, so many people die due to hypothermia and torrential rain. Sanitation and medical care are also problems, meaning that infectious and other diseases are widespread.

READ: 13,000 people affected by heavy rains in central Yemeni province

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