Houthi Siege Tightens Water and Fuel Supplies in Yemen's Taiz
NPR reports Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, faces worsening water shortages as Houthi forces tighten their encirclement, cutting wells, fuel and truck access.
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NPR reports that Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city with over a million residents, faces a worsening water crisis as Houthi forces tighten their encirclement, cutting access to wells and blocking water trucks. Bottled water prices have risen as much as 75%, while fuel and food shortages compound pressure on residents.
- Access to nearby wells has been limited and water delivery trucks are largely prevented from entering Taiz.
- Bottled water prices have risen as much as 75% in recent weeks, and some families now buy on credit.
- The U.N. migration agency estimates about 124,000 displaced people arrived in Taiz province since August.
- Cooking gas prices have more than quadrupled, and flour and rice are about 50% more expensive than over the summer.
- Amnesty International has called on the Houthis to immediately open roads into the city.
Water access narrows as encirclement tightens
NPR reports that Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, has struggled with scarce drinking water for more than a decade, but conditions worsened in recent weeks as Iran-backed Houthi rebels tightened their siege in their conflict with government forces. Humanitarian groups say the needs of the city's more than 1 million residents are barely being met.
As Houthi forces took control of more land and roads around Taiz, residents' access to nearby wells was cut off and water deliveries from outside declined, according to NPR. Desalination plants are running well below capacity as fuel supplies dwindle, and water delivery trucks are largely prevented from entering. Truckers who still make the journey have in some cases tripled their rates.
Families are rationing. Hadil al-Shahid told NPR that before the siege she and her two young children used about 10 liters of bottled water a day for drinking and cooking; now that amount lasts about four days. NPR reports bottled water costs as much as 75% more than a few weeks ago, and some families have begun buying water on credit.
Displacement, fuel and food shortages compound pressure
Since August, Taiz province has taken in roughly half of those displaced elsewhere in Yemen by the fighting — an estimated 124,000 people, according to U.N. migration experts cited by NPR. Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for a U.N. emergency aid division, said some displaced families are living in makeshift shelters or tents and surviving on one meal a day.
Fuel shortages have pushed the price of cooking gas to more than quadruple, according to Hani Bafaqih, a water, sanitation and hygiene expert at CARE in Yemen. Some families are cooking over fires fueled by wood, charcoal or cardboard. Flour and rice are about 50% more expensive than over the summer, aid groups told NPR.
Laerke said the shortages feed into each other: without fuel, water pumps, hospital generators and solid-waste collection stop, and with less clean water and waste piling up, the risk of disease, including cholera, rises. Amnesty International has called on the Houthis to immediately open roads into the city, saying Taiz is being pushed toward a severe humanitarian disaster.
What has happened to water and fuel supplies in Taiz under the Houthi siege?
NPR reports that access to nearby wells has been cut, desalination plants run low on fuel, water trucks are largely blocked and bottled water prices rose as much as 75%. Cooking gas has more than quadrupled in price.
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