‘Homes turned into ovens’: Millions of Yemenis swelter amid heat, blackouts
Millions of Yemenis grapple with a heatwave as power cuts add to the suffering of people in the war-torn nation. Mukalla, Yemen – Yemen is
Millions of Yemenis grapple with a heatwave as power cuts add to the suffering of people in the war-torn nation. Mukalla, Yemen – Yemen is sweltering under a heatwave as temperatures soar above a blistering 40C (104F), turning houses into ovens. Long power cuts have added to the suffering of millions of people across the war-torn nation. With authorities struggling to boost power supply, people have nowhere to escape from the hot and humid weather gripping much of the country’s southern, eastern and western regions, further compounding the humanitarian crisis in the most impoverished Arab nation. Residents of coastal cities such as Mukalla and Aden, under the control of the internationally recognised government, say prolonged blackouts are hurting businesses, disrupting daily life, robbing people of sleep and aggravating health problems. “Power was cut for eight hours and restored for only two,” Saddam Al-Jamlani, a resident of Aden, told Al Jazeera. There is no respite from the heat and frequent blackouts in the northern part of the country under the Iran-backed Houthis either. The growing frustration has also rekindled fears of unrest in a country still struggling to recover from more than a decade of conflict that has battered nearly every aspect of life. In Aden, residents say electricity is available for only a few hours a day as temperatures approach 40C. Many describe their homes as ovens, with little respite from the heat and humidity. Al-Jamlani said he and many others had hoped electricity supplies would improve during the Eid holiday (May 27), when thousands of residents left the city to visit relatives in the countryside, and many factories, workshops and businesses temporarily shut down. However, power cuts continued unabated, he said. “The electricity situation in Aden during Eid remained unchanged, with no improvement,” he told Al Jazeera. Crisis years in the making For more than a decade, Yemen has been engulfed in a war between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government backed by Saudi Arabia, a conflict that has killed and wounded thousands of people, displaced millions and devastated much of the country’s infrastructure, including its electricity sector.
The collapse of public services and the worsening economic crisis have repeatedly fuelled public anger. In recent years, violent protests triggered by prolonged power outages and deteriorating living conditions have left people dead and injured, while rival political factions have sought to exploit public frustration to mobilise support against their opponents. Earlier this year, shortly after Yemeni forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, pushed the UAE-supported Southern Transitional Council (STC) out of several southern provinces, Riyadh announced an $81.2m financial package to buy more than 300 million litres of fuel from the local market to operate dozens of power stations across Yemen. The Saudi intervention in January, which came during the cooler months when electricity demand is lower, helped keep many power stations running around the clock and allowed residents in cities such as Aden to enjoy near-continuous electricity for the first time in years. But as summer temperatures and humidity began to rise, the electricity situation deteriorated. On May 27, Saudi Arabia announced another support package worth $150m to buy fuel derivatives for power stations in government-controlled areas of Yemen. Residents and business owners, however, say the assistance has yet to bring noticeable improvements to electricity supplies in many of the affected cities. Searching for relief In the port city of Mukalla, known for its hot and humid summers, Salah Mohammed and his wife, a childless couple, say they sleep less than five hours a day and suffer from skin conditions they blame on prolonged power cuts. “When the power goes out at night, I wash myself and use a piece of cardboard to cool down. I don’t have a battery, an air conditioner or anything else,” Mohammed told Al Jazeera. He said the most difficult time is at night, when the heat and humidity rob them of sleep. If electricity has not returned by dawn, he often heads to a nearby mosque for prayers and a chance to cool off in its air-conditioned hall.
The BriefWire