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UN agencies on standby as cyclone threatens conflict-ridden Yemen

Xinhua, November 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN agencies are preparing to provide additional assistance in the aftermath of Cyclone Chapala, which hit the coast of Yemen Tuesday morning and may affect more than one million Yemenis, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here Tuesday.

Cyclone Chapala could bring more than five times the yearly average amount of rain within 48 hours to the coastal regions of Yemen, according to Dujarric.

"The most urgent needs are expected in the sectors of water hygiene and sanitation, health, emergency shelter, food and essential household items," said Dujarric.

UN agencies have been ringing the alarm bells about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen since conflict broke out in already impoverished Arab country in March.

Yemen, ravaged by months of war, is being battered by the first tropical storm on record to make landfall in the Arab country, and three people were reportedly killed when tropical Cyclone Chapala slammed into Yemen's central coast early Tuesday, lashing the area with maximum sustained winds of around 140 kilometers per hour. Endit