A huge sandstorm sweeping through central and southern Iraq has caused over 1,800 hospitalizations for respiratory problems, with health officials citing the rising intensity of such occurrences in the context of climate change.
Mazen al-Egeili, a local government official in the southern Muthanna province, said at least 700 were hospitalized on Monday from suffocation. Such reports were filed also in the Najaf, Diwaniyah, Dhi Qar, and Basra provinces as hundreds of people, including children, were treated for shortness of breath. In Basra and Najaf, airports were even closed for a while as visibility was greatly impaired as dust covered streets and landmarks.
The sandstorm, the year’s biggest, also resulted in electricity outages throughout the hit areas. Paramedics were deployed to public places to help those experiencing respiratory problems. Local weather authorities are forecasting the conditions to ease by Tuesday, but climate experts say that sandstorms are occurring more and more often because of the current climate crisis.
Iraq’s environment ministry has alerted of additional “dust days” to come, with scientists pointing to desertification and minimal rain as primary drivers. The United Nations has classed Iraq among the five countries most vulnerable to climate change, and desertification has already engulfed 71% of Iraq’s cultivatable land, with another 10,000 hectares becoming desolate annually.
In 2022, a sandstorm killed one person and hospitalized more than 5,000. Experts believe that the worsening of the situation is being added to by desertification and poor water management, rather than climate change. The World Bank has estimated a 20% decline in the water resources in Iraq by 2050, further worsening the situation.
The crisis emphasizes the necessity of long-term environmental policy change in Iraq to deal with the worsening of these situations.
