Turkish aid groups have stepped up their efforts to reach tens of thousands of Yemeni families in dire need of food, drinking water and medicine.

The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) has set up water tanks for refugees in the coastal city of Aden. Mehmet Sancar, head of the Turkish Red Crescent delegation in Yemen, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they regularly provide basic humanitarian aid to a refugee camp in Aden, where roughly 500 refugees live.

Sancar added that the refugees need, water, among many other things to survive. "Since we arrived, we have worked to meet drinking water needs of our Yemeni brothers, who had to flee from their homes because of the civil war," he said. The water tanks will meet the drinking needs of 100 families at the camp, he added.

In addition, the Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) provided blankets and coats to 1,150 families in the Hanik district of the capital Sanaa, it said in a statement.

Some 21 million people, out of Yemen's population of 27.4 million, face food shortages. Some 10 million others are in need of emergency assistance, according to the IHH. The statement underlined that thousands of people have died in the country due to the conflict, hunger, cholera and other epidemics. At least 85,000 children lost their lives in Yemen, while some 16,000 people died in the civil war, the charity group said citing international reports. The Turkish Red Crescent and other aid groups that provide aid, including Turkey's state Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), have recently launched campaigns to raise money to help the people of Yemen.