Threat of displacement as drought bites in part of Taiz Governorate

Thousands of people in a mountainous area of Taiz Governorate, south-east of Sanaa, could be displaced as a result of drought, local officials have said.

For months now residents of Jabal Saber, the second highest mountain in Yemen, have been living in harsh conditions due to drought, walking several kilometres a day in search of a few litres of water, officials said. The area is home to over 100,000 people, who rely on springs and rain for their water.

Mohammed Hazza, an official in Saber's local council, said the drought had adversely affected people's lives. "They have stopped working and are concerned only with bringing water to their homes. Even students are getting to school late as they have to help their families fetch water," he told IRIN.

Hazza said most people in the area were farmers and their land had been affected by the drought.

"The problem is the absence of rain. People walk for several kilometres to get water day and night. Even at 3am you can find women and children fetching water," he said, adding that over the past month and a half, four pregnant women had had miscarriages as a result of carrying heavy cans of water.

"People are thirsty"

Amin Thabet, secretary-general of Saber's local council, told IRIN that even natural springs had dried up. "This year's drought is the worst people have ever seen. The situation is dire. People are thirsty and want water to drink," he said.

Thabet said people in the area rely on concrete water tanks replenished by rain water. "This year's rains have not started yet," he said, warning that if conditions get worse, people would be displaced.

He said the problem is compounded by the fact that roads in the area are very poor, which makes it difficult for water tankers to reach mountainous villages.

Bilal al-Tayyeb, a local resident of Saber, said village women travel long distances and wait in long queues to get water from springs. "Farmers have begun selling their animals at very cheap prices," he added.

According to a 2007-World Bank report, Yemen is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, and per capita water consumption is less than 2 percent of the world average.

Entitled Making the Most of Scarcity: Accountability for Better Water Management in the Middle East and North Africa, the World Bank report said it was thought that in many highland basins, where a significant percentage of the local population is concentrated, water supplies were at crisis levels, and some villages were already being abandoned.

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