Qatar Red Crescent Society’s (QRCS) mission in Yemen has completed a project to help the families affected by severe floods in Al-Hudaydah.
At a total cost of $273,000 (nearly QR1mn), 290 houses were built for homeless families in Alluheyah and Az-Zuhrah districts, while a number of mosques and schools were restored.
The houses meet health standards in terms of ventilation and weather protection. To be environment-friendly, they were built using materials from the local nature. Also, a school of three classrooms was built, as well as a mosque in Alluheyah.
This project helps alleviate the suffering of the local community due to the floods and the protracted war, QRCS has said in a statement Generally, houses in those areas are built of mudbricks, which makes them prone to heavy rain, especially as the neighbourhoods lack drainage infrastructure.
The two districts lack the minimum living standards, like many other parts of the country, and the houses have no doors or windows. It is not unusual to find a family sharing a single-room house. 
Hundreds of families live in makeshift tents and the local population cannot rebuild the damaged houses. Most of them are poor shepherds or fishermen, the statement points out.
In a small village, located in Wadi Mawr, Az-Zuhrah, Haji Mubarak Ibrahim Hassan lives with a 10-member family in a one room-house. The structure is made of mudbricks and roofed with leaves of banana plants and palm trees.
Telling his story, Hassan said" “Two years ago, we lived in our home village by the southern bank of the valley. We had a tough but stable life. Our houses were built of the local mudbricks and slates. In the monsoon rain, heavy showers washed our houses, farms and sheep away. We lost everything. We lost our dreams. Because of the war, no one was out there for us."
“But then came the State of Qatar, and our hopes were revived. QRCS built new houses for us, and we could settle in much better shelters,” he added. “Thank you QRCS for helping us. May God bless you and everyone who contributed to this."
Abdul-Rahman al-Rifai, from the Az-Zuhrah Municipal Administration, commended QRCS’s efforts to serve the people of the district with a shelter project that met the essential needs of the flood victims.

AFP.