Yemen, torrential rains on Hadramaout and Mahra.

Oueds (or wadi) are dry river beds most of the year; charged with seasonal water, they fertilise their banks. The oueds are usually arteries feeding the regions around them but in the recent, exceptional, rainfall, they became immense rivers escaping their beds; destructive forces wrecking havoc in their course. In some villages bordering the wadi, the water level rose to 15 meters in a few minutes.

In Hadramaout, the damage caused by the floods is immediately obvious: on top of the demolished infrastructures - water pipelines, power networks, roads and bridges – homes ruined by flooding form a bleak landscape reminiscent of an intense conflict.

Triangle has a major advantage in terms of realising such works. Since 2000, we have implemented two large projects to optimise the use of flood waters for agriculture in wadi Hadramaout. These programmes included building over 200 structures to canalise the water, promote silt deposition and ground-water recharge, or simply to slow down the hydric erosion reducing useful farming land.
Of course such structures were submerged by the latest, exceptional, floods. But they held. In some areas, they even limited the impact of flooding. However, they are part of a vast complex that has been severely injured by the gaps appearing in the oued banks and the opening of new river beds. A careful evaluation will therefore be required prior to launching arable land restoration and protection works. Thanks to our presence in Yemen, we have means that are not attached to any specific programme so we can immediately set to work. The funding terms regulating our action do not always offer the human and financial means to evaluate past programmes but today we have this opportunity and intend to use it to better serve Hadramaout’s needs, like in other areas where we intervene or have intervened.

Ivan DERET - Heads of programmes

On October 23, 2008, East Yemen suffered hours of solid rainfall resulting in severe flooding in the oueds. Hadramaout and Mahra, two Governorates where Triangle has run several relief programmes over the past few years, were particularly affected.

The exploratory mission led by Triangle in the affected areas examined two key elements: what kind of intervention suits the most urgent needs, and what remains of previous achievements after the trial of time and a rare climactic event.

Another striking vision is the deployment of national aid which may come as a surprise for a country that does not benefit from the same oil reserves as its neighbours. Bulldozers and other machines are clearing the roads and closing off streets menaced by collapsing buildings. Hundreds of trucks from other regions in Yemen and border countries are conveying staple goods to the victims.
Imperfect though it may be, this national response to the population’s most immediate needs has allowed us to analyse the future needs linked to rehabilitating agricultural lands. As well as the damage caused to agriculture and the thousands of uprooted date palms, hundreds of hectares of fertile lands have been invaded by mud and wreckage or eroded and impoverished by the torrents. Such land must be restored.