(Baghdad) A sandstorm hit central Iraq and Baghdad on Friday, the first event of its kind this year in the capital of this semi-desert country where these phenomena are increasing.
Last year, Iraq experienced more than a dozen dust and sand storms in the spring, an unprecedented intensity largely due to desertification.
On Friday, the Iraqis found the now familiar orange halo which colors the atmosphere which has become unbreathable. Visibility was greatly reduced, while a film of dust covered cars and houses, AFP journalists reported.
Pushed east by the wind, the storm moved from Al-Anbar province to reach Baghdad and Salaheddine province in the late afternoon.
Local authorities were not yet able to tally the number of people hospitalized with respiratory ailments related to the storm.
In a statement, Health Minister Saleh al-Hasnaoui said he had ordered “all health establishments to be on alert” to receive these patients.
Questioned by AFP, Maytham al-Safi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, assured that the “flights continue normally”.
Last year, with almost every storm of this type, air transport had to be interrupted, administrations and schools closed and thousands of people hospitalized for respiratory problems.
According to meteorologists, sand and dust storms are expected to increase in the coming years.
The United Nations ranks Iraq among the five countries in the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Over the next two decades, the country is expected to experience “272 dust days” a year and by 2050 the 300-day threshold will be reached, according to an environment ministry official.
First culprit of this intensification of storms: galloping desertification, judge Amer al-Jabri, spokesperson for the Iraqi meteorological department, in an interview with AFP.
Citing “drought, lack of rain, drying up of rivers”, he considers that Iraq “lacks ‘green belts’ and clearing of agricultural land”.
To counter desertification and storms, Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani unveiled a campaign in mid-March to “plant five million trees and palms” across Iraq.