Pegged at $160,000 (nearly QR600,000), the project will provide shelter homes for families in Mocha, western Taiz. It was initiated early this year in three towns of the port city. Each house costs $800.
QRCS noted that the first phase of the project involves a survey to identify the poorest families, selection of target areas, formation of community committees, supply of building materials, and hiring local skilled and unskilled labour.
All the houses are scheduled to be completed and handed over to beneficiaries in early July.
Over the past five years, shelter had become a critical issue amid the war, displacement, scarce jobs, and increasing unemployment in Yemen.
The project focuses on giving shelters to homeless families, funding labour-intensive activities and hiring local workforce.
“This will help create jobs and enable families to generate income, which in turn will reflect positively on their nutrition, living conditions, and secure dwelling,” QRCS said.
A team from QRCS visited the areas receiving internally displaced people, selected and prioritised the families to be covered by the project.
Families in the coastal areas of Yemen live below the poverty line, which got even worse with the recent escalation of military operations.
In a region depending largely on fishing, the local community now cannot go on their boats or make a shift to agriculture due to expensive fuel prices and insufficient rainfall.
The region’s population live in ‘Ushash’ (a local word for huts made of straw and palm fronds), which are inadequate for the hot, humid, and windy weather. Others set up plastic tents and canvas to live in.
QRCS builds 160 houses in western Taiz
More than 160 families in Yemen who are badly affected by the war stand to benefit from Qatar Red Crescent’s (QRCS) housing project in the country.
