The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is warning of a rapidly worsening displacement crisis in Yemen unfolding by the hour. At least 76,000 people have fled their homes since July, up from 46,000 just days earlier, according to IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) team and partners.
Numbers have nearly doubled overnight. That's four times last week's total, as fighting intensifies. Entire families are on the move, often at night. They have nowhere safe to go.
Fighting is escalating rapidly along the West Coast and South Taiz frontlines. Taiz is the hardest hit, with 8,300 households, or nearly 50,000 people, displaced from districts including Jabal Habashy, Al Ma'afer, Maqbanah, Mawza and Al Wazi'iyah. Lahj follows with 2,819 households, or almost 17,000 people, most from Al-Mudharibah district. Thousands more have fled Al Hodeidah, where 1,374 households, or over 8,100 people, have been displaced from coastal districts including Hays and Al Khawkha, and Aden, where 191 households, or over 1,100 people, have fled.
IOM Director General Amy Pope said families are being displaced for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left, and that spreading fighting is making it harder to reach people with lifesaving aid. She calls for safe, unimpeded access, and urged all parties to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and to safeguard the supplies, vehicles and facilities IOM relies on to deliver help.
Communications in affected areas remain disrupted. This is making it harder to reach people and assess needs. Roads are increasingly inaccessible due to ongoing fighting. This is further complicating an already dire situation.
Many of these families have been displaced before, some multiple times, over 12 years of conflict. They are exhausted. Their resources are gone. Most fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They have left behind homes, livelihoods, and any sense of stability they had left.
IOM teams are on the ground. They are distributing emergency supplies, including shelter materials, hygiene kits, and other essential items. But needs are far outpacing what we can deliver. The situation is deteriorating by the day. Displacement figures are expected to rise further in the coming days.
We call on the international community to urgently scale up support for Yemen before this crisis deepens further. The situation remains volatile and unpredictable. IOM will continue to monitor developments closely and report further updates as they become available.
