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Written By: Abdul-Aziz Oudah
Article Date: Mar 13, 2010 - 11:10:48 AM
A preliminary report on war torn Sa’adah claimed that 5,026 houses were damaged during the conflict. Of these, 1,699 were entirely destroyed, while 1,973 were partly damaged and another 1,354 with the addition of 407 private institutions are in need of repair. The number of damaged public establishments reached 150, including schools, hospitals, police stations, courts, agricultural guidance centers as well as an additional 100 mosques. There are 404 damaged establishments in Harf Sufian alone, including 377 home that are no longer fit for families.
The Higher Committee discussed the report, chaired by Prime Minister Ali Mujawar, in an effort to tackle the affects of the conflict in Sa’adah province and Harf Sufian district.
The report outlined the complete destruction of 1,699 houses, the significant damage of another 1,973 homes, and many other dwellings in need of partial restoration.
The report, prepared by the Sa’adah Reconstruction Fund in cooperation with Sa’adah and Amran provinces’ leadership councils, has yet to survey all of the affected areas. The report has primarily dealt with the damage to public and private facilities in the more prominent areas. The rest of the areas will be surveyed in the coming weeks.
About 320 public facilities were damaged during the armed conflict in several of the districts of Sa’adah province, including schools, hospitals, medical centers, police stations, courts, mosques and other facilities.
The report, referring to the percentage of the current levels of preliminary damages caused by the recent violence compared to the previous levels, indicated that the total damage to public institutions due to the most recent outbreak of conflict reached 36% of all property, compared with only 9% of all property in previous conflicts. As a matter of analysis, the levels of partial damage to public facilities were also up from 24% in previous conflicts to a staggering 33%.
Prior to the eruption of the latest round of conflict in Sa’adah in August 2009, the report affirmed that the fund has managed to implement 33 public project developments amounting to over YR 365.5 million, in addition to 13 other projects that were still under construction.
In the same period, 1,355 houses had been reconstructed entirely, while an additional 1,084 were under construction, all at a cost of YR 979.4 million. The funds came out of contract amounts, which were valued at over YR 1.6 billion.
The committee has assigned the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation and the Fund’s Executive Director to contact with the World Bank to prepare a comprehensive study on the damages and the real requirements for a reconstruction plan in Sa’adah and Harf Sufian.