Canadian charity prepares over 900 emergency kits for Yemen families amid cholera outbreak

Thirty Toronto volunteers with a Canadian disaster relief charity prepared more than 900family emergency kits for peoplein Yemen on Saturday to help combat the country's growing cholera epidemic.

Rahul Singh, executive director of GlobalMedic, said each kitcontains a household water purification unit that can provide one family with clean drinking water for a year, as well ashygiene items to protect family membersfrom the risk of communicable diseases.

"There are 800,000 folks plus in Yemen who have been affected by cholera. There's deadly water borne disease that is completely avoidable.We have kids dying en masse," Singh said.

"And we are hoping to save a lot of these kids by getting thesefamilies these kits to getthem clean water for a year."

• 'I felt like death:' Cholera epidemic spreads misery in Yemen

Singh said the charity markedRemembrance Dayby preparing kits for families currently affected by war.

KubraKhandwala, a volunteer, said she donated her time and energy because people in Yemen need help.

"The outbreak of cholera is really bad and I don't think enough media attention is being givento this.I think it's really important for people to see that there is a need there and people are being affected. All it takes is clean drinking water," she said.

KapasiInternational Relief and Education Assistance, or KIREA, a non-profitcharitable organization that Khandwala runs, raised money to helppay forthe kits and she decided to lend a hand with the packing

"It's really important for me to be here today because I need to be working as well on this.I can't just sit back and raise money. I need to be doing something and I think every person who is here is really valuable. Time is what's of value now," she said.

GlobalMedicsent 330 family emergency kits to Yemen in June and enough water purification tablets to provide 6.7 million litres of clean drinking water.

Since April, the World Health Organization has reportedmorethan 908,000 suspected cases of cholera in Yemen and 2,192 deaths due to the disease.

GlobalMedicsays the number of suspected cholera cases is expectedto reach a million by the end of this year.

According to the WHO, sevenmillion people in Yemen are on the brink of famine. That includessome two million severely malnourished children, living in areas where cholera infection rates are high. Children with acute malnutrition have compromised immune systems that triple their risk of dying from diseases such as cholera.

Last Monday, aSaudi-led military coalition closed all air, land and sea ports in Yemento stop what it believes is a flow of arms from Iran to Yemen'sHouthi movement.

On Saturday, Reuters reported thatthe coalition has said it will allow international commercial flights to resume to two Yemeni cities startingSunday.

The blockade came afterSaudi Arabia intercepted a ballistics missile lastweekend that wasfired by Yemen's Houthirebels at the Saudi capital Riyadh. According to the U.S. military, the missile was from Iran.

• Yemen missile fired at Saudis appears to be made in Iran: U.S. military

Saudi Arabia blamed the strike on Iran, which supports the Houthis but has denied arming them.

The blockade has led to a fuel, medicine, and food crisis in the Yemeni capitalSanaa,where resources arealready scarce.

This week, the United Nations warned that theblockade could bring millions of people closer to "starvation and death."