Saudi relief agency arrives in Yemen’s Marib with 32 trucks of aid

Saudi relief agency sent 32 trucks carrying 791 tons of food baskets to Yemen on Sunday to be distributed to needy families in the governorate of Marib, east of Sanaa.

The aid will be distributed to needy families in the governorate in the next few days according to a schedule prepared in coordination with Yemeni High Relief Committee and through a local partner.

The aid comes within a project of distributing 49,000 food baskets allocated to five Yemeni governorates including Sana'a, Marib, Jouf, Al-Bayda and Hadramout and as an extension of relief and humanitarian projects being provided by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center to the people in Yemen.

UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, told a press conference in Amman on Sunday that more than 11 million Yemeni children need help, saying that Yemen has become one of the worst places for children.

“We estimate that every 10 minutes there is a child in Yemen dying of preventable diseases,” Cappelaere said. He added that the aid plane sent by UNICEF to Sanaa, loaded with cholera medicines and food, will help more than 6,000 children.

“There is a need to vaccinate 600,000 children throughout Yemen, once again with diphtheria, meningitis, whooping cough, pneumonia and tuberculosis,” he said.

He pointed out that although some areas in Yemen are difficult to reach, UNICEF is trying hard to provide assistance to all areas.

“We welcome the reopening of Sanaa airport on Saturday, which allowed us to send the first humanitarian convoy carrying 1.9 million doses of vaccine,” Cappelaere said.