The cost from damage to infrastructure and economic losses in Yemen’s civil war is more than US$14 billion so far, according to a confidential report seen by reporters that highlights the effort needed to rebuild the country, where more than half the population is suffering from malnutrition.
“The conflict has so far resulted in damage costs [still partial and incomplete] of almost US$7 billion and economic losses [in nominal terms] of over US$7.3 billion in relation to production and service delivery,” said the May 6 joint report by the World Bank, the UN, the Islamic Development Bank and the EU.
The internationally recognized administration of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi is battling Iran-allied Houthis in a bitter civil conflict, and is also facing the militant al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group.
The 16-month civil war has killed more than 6,500 people, displaced more than 2.5 million and caused a humanitarian catastrophe.
The Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment report is an internal working document that is not being publicly released.
“These preliminary findings are not only partial, but also evolving” because the conflict is ongoing, the report said.
The assessment was conducted between late last year and early this year, the report said.
A survey by the Yemeni Ministry of Education cited by the report showed that of 1,671 schools in 20 governorates which suffered damage, 287 need major reconstruction, 544 were serving as shelters and 33 were occupied by armed groups.
Citing the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Population, the report said 900 of 3,652 facilities providing vaccination services were not operating early this year, leaving 2.6 million children under 15 at risk of contracting measles.
In Taiz, the public health system has nearly collapsed, with half the public hospitals damaged or inaccessible.
“There has been a surge in civilian morbidity and mortality as an indirect consequence of the conflict,” the report said.
The report could assess residential damage only in the cities of Sana’a, Aden, Taiz and Zinjibar, and data collection was cut off in October last year. That data alone found an estimated US$3.6 billion in damage.
The cost to reconstruct damaged energy facilities in the four cities was an estimated US$139 million, the report said.
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