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In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

In Pictures: Living through the Yemen war as an IDP

Almost 3.6 million people have been displaced since March 2015, most now live in camps lacking basic facilities.

The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
Ali Nasser el-Kahsi with his family inside a tent of the IDP camp in Khamer, Yemen. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]

By Francesca Mannocchi and Alessio Romenzi

Published On 24 Sep 201924 Sep 2019

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Saada, Yemen – More than 23 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, according to the UN’s refugee agency.

Almost 3.6 million have been displaced since March 2015, with the figure including 53,000 families displaced since January 2019.

The living conditions inside refugee camps are very harsh. There is a lack of food, clean drinking water and electricity and only a few basic toilets.

Most of the displaced people in the refugee camps in the north of the country come from Saada and nearby villages on the border with Saudi Arabia.

Saada, a stronghold of the Houthi rebels, has been bombed heavily since 2015 and considered a military target by the Saudi-led coalition.

In the countryside around Abs, one of the poorest and most remote areas of the country, 200km from Saada, there are hundreds of tents between mountains and deserts.

After the start of the conflict, most of the men living in these camps lost their jobs, their homes and the possibility of maintaining their families.

Adel Ali Saleh Batal and his wife Amina lived in Beni Hassan in the province of Hajjah, in the northeast of the country. 

Amina was pregnant when the neighbourhood was bombed by the coalition and shrapnel struck her. She remembers falling to the ground and feeling great pain.

After the birth of her child three years ago, she discovered that the baby had suffered permanent neurological damage.

“The doctors say that the child must be treated for life with a device that emits an electric shock. We must buy this device and take it to the tent. But we have no money,” said Adel.

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Ali Nasser el-Kahsi worked as a driver in Saada.

He said his house was destroyed by the bombing and he fled with his wife – nine months pregnant – and six children.

Today, they live in the refugee camp in Abs, fighting every day to eat and have clean water.

The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
The IDP camp on the outskirts of Khamer mostly gives shelter to people fleeing the conflict area on the northern border with Saudi Arabia. Many people living in this camp are obliged to beg in the nearby town to survive after they were forced to leave their houses and jobs in other parts of the country. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
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The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
As the rain approaches, an IDP removes the clothes outside her tent. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
A bridge destroyed by air raid between Khamer and Saada in northern Yemen. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
View of the old souk in Saada. Almost all shops are closed after several Saudi-led coalition air raids. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
A view of the houses destroyed by the air raids in Saada. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
The guard and keeper of a military compound in Saada looks at an unexploded bomb. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
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The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
A child runs in an unofficial IDP camp on the outskirts of Abs. Most of the people living in camp had to quit their jobs and rely on humanitarian organisations aid. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
Adel Ali Saleh Batal, his wife Amina and their disabled son in their tent in Beni Hassan IDP camp in Hajjah province. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]
The lives of the displaced people of Yemeni war
The IDP camps come about spontaneously and are not organised, making it almost impossible to have exact figures of the people in need. [Alessio Romenzi/Al Jazeera]

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