[21/08/2024 01:59]

CAIRO-SABA
The Republic of Yemen participated on Wednesday in the second Arab Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction, organized by the Arab League in the Egyptian capital Cairo, with a delegation headed by Minister of Water and Environment Engineer Tawfiq al-Sharjabi.

The meeting, with the participation of the Arab ministers concerned with disaster risk reduction, discusses a number of topics related to monitoring natural disasters, following up on the items of the Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Arab Roadmap for Preparedness and Response to Radiological Emergencies, in addition to the Arab project associated with marine disasters and their reduction.

Minister al-Sharjabi reviewed the risks of disasters and crises facing Yemen, especially the disasters resulting from the rapidly accelerating climate changes, and the war ignited by the terrorist Houthi militia against the Yemeni people for ten years.

He pointed to the high losses suffered by many areas in our country recently due to the devastating flood disasters that swept through many governorates, despite the measures taken by the government to prepare with the scarce available capabilities.

He stressed that the disaster was by nature greater than Yemen's ability to face it, which confirms the need to make more national efforts and the need for Arab support through the mechanism of Arab coordination for disaster risk reduction at the League of Arab States and support for the implementation of the Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The Minister of Water and Environment emphasized that the war in Yemen has led to a decline in the capacity of institutions and the suspension of updating the required legislation and laws to keep pace with the development in disaster risk management.

He pointed out to the environmental disasters caused by the Houthi coup militias by targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea with hazardous materials that pollute the marine environment and threaten the marine wealth stock in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as is the case in the targeting of the fertilizer transport ship "Rubymar" last February.

He also referred to the deliberate destruction and killing, the cutting of water and electricity, and the prevention of the arrival of aid and the excessive use of force in an attempt to displace the indigenous population in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He called for an immediate cessation of violence and the start of genuine negotiations to reach serious results that take into account international resolutions and the historical rights of the Palestinian people.

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