The Yemen Apocalypse

Civil war. Famine. Cholera, Dengue, COVID-19. Widespread death.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse have been riding high in Yemen for 5 years, yet it is only now when mainstream media recognises the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

More than 24M people (80% of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance,

including more than 12 million children. COVID-19 is the newest catastrophe racked up on the Jenga tower of catastrophes already strike across Yemen, threatening to dislodge it and wreak greater havoc than 5 years of war could manage.

March 2015, when the civil conflicts escalated, marked the beginning of sheer hell raining down on Yemen’s children, with at least 395 children killed and 1,447 maimed. 2 million children were already out of school, and the raging spread of COVID-19 has added 5.8 million children more. It is estimated the overall number of children with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition under the age of five could increase to a total of 2.4 million.

More than 5 years of war have devastated Yemen’s health facilities, with hardly half of them functioning during the pandemic. Oxygen and other essential supplies to treat the

coronavirus are out of the question when masks and gloves are barely available. In total, the U.N. estimates that $4 billion is needed to supply humanitarian aid to Yemen. As the metaphorical fire rages in Yemen, it is worthy to note that when Notre

Dame was on fire between $835 million and more than $1 billion in donations had been pledged, most of which was donated before the flames were even extinguished.

Will Yemen’s apocalyptic states finally be able to teach us the value of human life?

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Writer: Hia Sadho

Image courtesy: unosc.org