120-Day Winds in Sistan and Baluchestan; 1000 People Admitted to Medical Centers

A new wave of 120-day winds accompanied by dust storms in Sistan and Baluchestan province has sent about a thousand people to medical centers. The Director General of the Crisis Management Office of Sistan and Baluchestan Province announced on Friday, July 7, that due to severe winds and dust in the northern part of the province, 1010 people have visited medical centers, with 162 of them hospitalized. Majid Mohibi mentioned that the area affected by the 120-day winds includes the Sistan region, comprising five counties: Zabol, Zahedan, Hamun, Hirmand, and Nimruz. According to this local official, the dust storms in recent days have caused respiratory, cardiac, and eye problems for the residents of the area. Meanwhile, the head of the Red Crescent Society in Sistan and Baluchestan reported the distribution of 3,800 masks among the storm-affected people in the Sistan region. Additionally, the IRNA news agency cited environmental issues in the hot and dry province of Sistan and Baluchestan as causing problems for its residents. The report states that drought, floods, relatively strong 120-day winds, dust storms, seismic activity, and the dryness of the international Hamun wetland, combined with hot and dry weather, have created economic and health challenges for the people in this region. Sistan and Baluchestan is considered the poorest province and has the highest poverty rate in the country. Previously, the Etemad newspaper reported a 50% poverty rate in Sistan and Baluchestan, stating that half of the province's three million population was living below the absolute poverty line in the year 1400 (2021). According to this report published on January 18, 2023, Sistan and Baluchestan also holds the highest rates of illiteracy, child malnutrition, and maternal mortality in the country. These factors have led to the migration of some residents of this province to other areas of Iran. Bahram Salavati, head of the Iran Migration Observatory, recently announced that drought and dust storms caused the exodus of 10,000 families from the city of Zabol last year. Flooding and road blockages in areas of Sistan and Baluchestan, images of sandstorms in Iranshahr; 57 people hospitalized due to dust in Zabol, water supply in Sistan and Baluchestan handed over to the IRGC, Sistan and Baluchestan in crisis; water and electricity outages and long queues for chicken alongside drought, increasing the number of casualties; sandstorm sent '1059 people' to hospitals in Sistan and Baluchestan.