Middle East and North Africa offers a comprehensive, evidence-based analysis of one of the world’s most complex and dynamic mobility landscapes where labour migration, protracted displacement, environmental stressors and socioeconomic transitions converge.
Hurricane Melissa, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, hit southwestern Jamaica on 28 October as a Category 5 system—the worst hurricane to hit the area since 1988—before crossing into eastern Cuba as a Category 3 the following day.
As the extent of the damage becomes clearer, the impact continues to grow in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Granma — the two most severely hit by Hurricane Melissa.
More than 54,000 people remain evacuated, 7,500 of them in state centers.
• One week after Hurricane Melissa passed through, more than 50 communities in the eastern region remain cut off due to flooding and infrastructure damage, according to Civil Defense reports.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has provided shelter assistance to nearly 3,400 displaced families and distributed essential household items to 14,000 families across Yemen in 2024, thanks to the generous $7 million USD contribution from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief).
As of February 13th, UNHCR estimates that approximately 279,620 Syrians have returned to Syria since December 8th, 2024. The figures derive from the triangulation of sources both inside and outside Syria, including UNHCR offices and Government sources in Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt.
