Disclaimer
This report was compiled by an ADRC visiting researcher (VR) from ADRC
member countries.
The views expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views ofthe ADRC. The boundaries and names shown and the designations usedon the maps in the report also do not imply official endorsement or
acceptance by the ADRC.

Yemen country profile

By :Hazar Fadhl Dammag
Ministry Water and Environmental

GGenerall IInformation.
fi

Brief description of ministry of water and environment.

Natural Hazard in the country.

Three main factors that exacerbate Yemen’s vulnerability to naturaldisasters.

SupportingSti Disaster
Dit RiRiskkRReduction
d ti att ththe NNationaltil anddM
Municipal
i i l
Level in Yemen.

Most Important Priorities for Risk Reduction.

Barriers to Disaster Risk Reduction Management.

Research Topic.

Location:
Yemen is located in thesouthern west of the
Arabian peninsula.
AREA :
528,000 km², 21
Governorate
POPULATION:
24 million.
Topography
The country
country’ss topographyof rugged Mountains ,volcanic , Highlands,
deserts and coastal plains
Climate:Temperate in the mountainous regionsin the western part of the country
country,
extremely hot with minimal rainfall inthe remainder of the country. Humidon the coastcoast.

General Information
Aden city

Hadramout
Sana'aSana'acity
city

Organization structure

Socotra Island

Organizational Map of Government agencies for disaster risk management in Yemen

Ministry of interior

Supreme council

Risk Assessment
GIS,NDMU

Risk Reduction
Land survey andurban planning

GeologicalBoard

Public works

RS and GIS
centerAgriculture

Earthquake
center
Health – GIS
center

NDMU

Water andEnvironment

GOVERNMENTLEVEL

Early warning

Awareness

CAMATRANSPORTATION

Social AffairsNWRA-water andenvironment

Education

Earthquake center

HealthLOCAL COUNCIL

EWS and Community
preparedness Cell

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF DISASTERS IN YEMEN

H iHousingNGOS

Natural Hazard in the country:
Floods:The most recent major floods occurred in 1996, 2000, and 2008. The areas that are at risk
from flooding are largely the densely populated areas of western Yemen, that include
governorates of Sada’a, Sana’a, Dhamar, Ibb, Taiz, Lahz, Mareb, and Abyan In central andeastern Yemen, the Hadramout Valley and the southern coastline of Yemen are also at riskfrom flooding. Floods in Yemen mostly result from high-intensity rainfall, and sometimes fromcoastal storm surges and tsunamis such as tsunami resulted from Sumatra earthquake in 2005
Earthquakes:
YYemen
iis llocatedd iin theh seismicallyi i ll active
i zone b
between theh A
Arabianbi andd Af
Africani
tectonici plateslwhich are pulling apart. The western and southern portions of Yemen around the rifts of the Red
Sea and Gulf of Aden represented by volcanic mountains over magma tic champers. Theseportions are the most active zones and at risk from earthquakes. Although the magnitudes ofeventst are smallll bbutt it iis ffelling
lli bby peoples
l liliving
i iin ththatt areas. ThThe llargestt ddestructive
t tiearthquake was with magnitude Mw6. In Dhamar.
Landslides:
Unstable geological conditions, including the development of extensive cracks due to natural
aging and extreme weather conditions, exist in several mountainous regions of Yemen such as
Al-Dhafeer in 2006 Al Gayah and Al-Semah. In such regions, heavy rains, storms, earthquakes,or volcanic eruptions, as well as mining and inappropriately sited infrastructure, can combine totrigger landslides. Since the terrain of Yemen is mostly mountainous, the entire country is at riskof landslides.

Volcanic eruptions:
As mentioned above the central and western plateau of Yemen located in the volcanic fields which
consists of q
quaternaryy volcanic cones. These volcanic cones have similar age
g with that locatedalong the axial of Red Sea and characterized by it’s active and gases case. The last new eruptions
was in 2007 at Al- Tair island at Red Sea. killed about 8 people in this Volcanic eruption.
Drought:
Yemen is set to be the first country in the world to run out of water, providing a taste of theconflict and mass movement of populations that may spread across the world if population
growth outstrips natural resources. Government and experts agree that the capital, Sana’a, has
about ten years at current rates before its wells run dry but the city of two million continues togrow as people are forced to leave other areas because of water shortages Drought hascaused the displacement of thousands of people s from mountainous villages in 2009, the firsttime in Yemen; the Investment Authority in Yemen has called on the private sector to compete
for projects to desalinate seawater in order to face the current issue of water scarcity in Yemen
as well as the future fear of drought.

Hadramut Flood ,,2008 killed 73

Yemen Flood Ibb city

heavy rains in Sana'a, Yemen• Depth: 7km

Dhamar Earthquake • Economic losses: 2
December 13,1982 $ billion• Homeless: 250,000

Volcanic Eruption
at Al-Tair Island,2007( Killed 6 persons)• Deaths: 2800
• Injured : 15000

Landslides at Al-Dafir
2005 (killed 65person)

Three main factors that exacerbate Yemen’s
Yemen s vulnerability to natural
disasters
Climate change is expected to increase exposure to drought and flash floods, leading to atrend: While there is no international consensus on the impact of climate change on

precipitation levels in Yemen, Global Climate Models (GCM) predict a three to four degree
centigrade increase in mean temperatures by the 21st century. Climate change induced
impacts may include a rise in sea levels, and increased exposure to droughts and flash
floods in the country.

Depletion of water resources: The availability of water in Yemen stands at 150 cubic meters
per capita, and is well below the threshold of 1000 cubic meters per capita established by
the United Nations for classifying countries as water scarce countries. In fact, the availability
off watert ini YemenYi muchish lowerlth thethanth average figure
fif theforth Middle
Middl East
E t andd North
N thAfrica Region, which is about 1250 cubic meter per capita. This limited availability of water isfurther exacerbated by three factors:(1) Seasonal and temporal changes in the pattern of rainfall that Yemen receives;(2) BothB th expansion
i off theth area underd cultivation
lti ti as wellll as watert intensive
i t
i agriculturali lt
lproduction;(3) Higher ground water extraction and reduced ground aquifer recharge as a result ofincreased urbanization which in turn has resulted in an expansion in built-up areas. Thed l ti off water
depletiont resources isi increasingii aridity,
idit whichhi h could
ld leadl d tot reduceddd economiciprospects in the future, thereby making Yemen more vulnerable to natural disasters.

Most Important Priorities for Risk Reduction
1- Early Warning System in order to- Enhance early warning system- Hazardous assessment and monitor disaster risk
- Develop national reports with consistent approach- Monitor transboundary disaster risks and enhance regional cooperation
2- Strengthen Research Capabilities inorder to:- Use Knowledge , innovation and education .
-Raise awareness for safety and resilience.
-Data collection on vulnerability and risks

Barriers to Disaster Risk Reduction Management- Weak institutional structure and lack of legislations
legislations.
- Lack of national policies.
- Lack of early warning and monitoring system.
- Inadequate data collection and analysis of datadata.
- Inadequate institutional financial technical capacity.
- Uncertainties in regional, local climate change scenarios

Supporting Disaster Risk Reduction at the National and Municipal Level in Yemen
Yemen is a disaster prone country that faces a number of natural hazards every year, the mostimportant ones being flash floods, earthquake, and land- or rockslides. According to the Emergency
Events Database (EM-DAT) approximately 100,000 people are affected annually by disasters
triggered by natural hazards in Yemen. The World Bank, through the GFDRR, as well as otherinternational organizations like UNDP, IFRC etc. are assisting the Government of Yemen tostrengthen its National System for disaster risk management, in order to secure better coordination
between the public and private sector, as well as to foster the participation from civil society. GFDRR
activities aim also to strengthen the understanding and integration of hazard risk management amongline ministries and planning agencies.
Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction at the National and City Level
The overall strategy to support Yemen in developing a sound Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery
system using the funds made available by GFDRR ($947,000) includes three main activities: (in) acountry disaster risk assessment (ii) national DRR System, including necessary legal and strategic
frameworks to ensure mainstreaming and inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral coordination, and (iii) a
series of innovative pilot activities at the local level within specific sectors (e.g. through add-ons toongoing or under preparation projects), and/or cross-cutting (e.g. national awareness campaign,
climate change A probabilistic risk assessment is underway in order to develop an analysis of risk
exposure and financial response capacity for Yemen. The consultant firm will employ advanced
hazard analysis and catastrophic risk modeling techniques to identify and evaluate the main sourcesof losses from natural disaster. Awareness building and education on effects of disasters and disastermanagementgtechniques
qan ongoingg g effort byy way
y of workshopsp and seminars. There is also an effort
to integrate DRR knowledge in current execution of urban and public works projects in the country. An
integral component of the City Development Strategy (CDS) in Sana’a (Capital of Yemen) is a risk
assessment and a Human Resource Management (HRM) Plan which includes an Urban Upgrading
Strategy;gy; update
pof the land use/master;; and a capitalpinvestment p
plan and time-bound pprioritizedaction plan.

Strengthening Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction
Following the floods in October 2008, caused by the storm 03B, which
seriously affected the eastern governorates of Yemen - Hadramout and AlAl
Mahara, GFDRR has leveraged resources toward the following activities:(i) a Flood and Land Slide Hazard Risk Atlas for Hadramout and Al Mahra
governorates (ii) an analysis of the applications of catastrophic risk
governorates,modeling for hazard risk management in Hadramout and Al Mahra
governorates; and (iii) recommend methodology and hydraulic design
considerations for the design (by others) of roads,roads housing in urban andrural areas, agricultural areas, and for the detailed design of flood training
works to be designed by others for protection ofResearch Topic
How to strengthen technical water resource management in Yemen
including database creation and raising public awareness
Disaster water in Yemen :Yemen is facing one of the most complex development problems and its most serious
challenge, namely: the problem of water resources scarcity and over-exploited aquifers andfacing a growing water scarcity . As a result, the water shortage is worsening one year after another,thexasperatedt d byb theth continuedtid imbalancei b lb t
betweenannuall recharge
handd theth growing
i watertdemand. This has led to the alarming depletion of groundwater in a number of basins (Sana'a,Amran, Sa'adah, Rada'a, Rasyan, Tihama, Abyan), wiping out agricultural production andinvestments in some of these areas. This water reality imposes on the country the challenge ofreducing
d ith existingthei tiunsustainablet i bl use off watert resources throughthh improvedid managementt anddbetter planning for its rational utilization and the challenge of providing safe drinking water andsanitation service to the great majority of urban and rural populations who still lack such services(it is estimated that 32% of the population have access to public drinking water systems and 21%
ht public
bli sanitation
it ti networks).
tk ) andd also
l theth arid
id climate
li t andd theth recurrentt droughts
dht
have
access toit is the one of the main causes of this emergency. But the picture is not complete without
considering the governance aspects. In fact, the situation is made worse by the exorbitant price ofwater, the presence of autonomous water sellers, the poor water conveyance system, illegal
d illi off boreholes
drillingb h l andd wells.
ll