Aden, Yemen – In this coastal city long accustomed to sweltering, humid summers, the absence of electricity can reshape an entire day. When the power cuts out, fans and air conditioners fall silent. Students race to finish their homework before darkness arrives.
Children spill onto the streets while young men drift towards the sea in search of moving air and cooler waters. Inside hospitals, where treatment cannot be postponed until the lights come back on, electricity carries a different weight altogether. Yemen’s power crisis predates the current war.
Even before the conflict, only about 55 percent of the population had access to electricity from all sources, which is among the lowest rates in the Middle East and North Africa. Since 2015, damage to infrastructure, fuel shortages and ageing generation and distribution systems have left supplies even more fragile. In Aden, power stations continue to face repeated shutdowns, leaving residents without electricity for long periods.
Insurance premium increases on tankers carrying fuel to Aden have also reportedly made the crisis worse. An assessment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published this year said Aden was receiving just two to six hours of electricity a day as structural weaknesses and fuel shortages caused frequent outages. As the sun sets over the city, a second part of the day begins.
Homes and businesses slip into darkness, punctuated only by small lights powered by batteries and solar systems. Residents often do not know how long the latest blackout will last, or how long the power will stay on once it comes back. During the summer, when temperatures in Aden climb towards 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), the consequences are hard to escape.
Residents in the city interviewed in the middle of the year said their homes had become almost unbearable during the prolonged power cuts that plague the city. The heat does not always disappear when the sun goes down. Our lives have become tied to when electricity comes and goes,” one resident said.
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