BAGHDAD (AFP) – One person has died and about 5,000 Iraqis have been taken to hospitals for respiratory ailments due to a sandstorm, the seventh to hit the country in the past month, state media said.
Residents of six of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including Baghdad and the vast western region of al-Anbar, awoke once again to a thick cloud of dust blanketing the sky.
“One death has been recorded in Baghdad,” Iraq’s health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr said in a statement on Thursday, adding that hospitals have received no less than 5,000 cases so far.
Authorities in al-Anbar and Kirkuk provinces, north of the capital, urged people to stay indoors, said the official INA news agency.
Hospitals in al-Anbar province had received more than 700 patients with breathing difficulties, said Anas Qais, a health official cited by INA.
The central province of Salaheddin reported more than 300 cases, while the central province of Diwaniya and the province of Najaf, south of Baghdad, each recorded about 100 cases, the news agency added.
Those hit the hardest were people suffering from chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma, and also the elderly who suffer in particular from heart problems.
According to the Iraqi official, the majority of the hospitalized people had since been discharged and most cases were of “medium or low intensity.”
Dust and sandstorms have grown more frequent and intense in the Middle East in recent years, a trend that has been associated with overuse of river water, more dams, overgrazing and deforestation.
According to experts, the fine dust particles can cause health problems, including asthma and cardiovascular ailments, and spread bacteria and viruses as well as pesticides and other toxins.
Dust and sandstorm is expected to grow more intense with worsening climate change as land is dried out faster and desertification is accelerated by higher temperatures and more irregular rainfalls.
The World Bank has already warned that Iraq - a country of 41 million people - could suffer a 20 percent drop in water resources by 2050.
According to Issa al-Fayad, an official with the environment ministry, the Arab country could face 272 days of sandstorms a year in the coming decades.
Sandstorms also cause economic damage by decreasing visibility, sometimes to near zero, closing airports and highways and damaging buildings, vegetation and solar panels.
Flights scheduled to depart overnight and on Thursday morning were suspended before resuming in the afternoon, when the dust began to clear.