Dust Storm in Sistan and Baluchestan Province Sends Dozens to Medical Centers

According to reports, following recent storms in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, dozens of residents have been sent to medical centers; simultaneously, an analyst on Sistan and Baluchestan issues states that 30% of the people in Sistan have left the region. According to the Meteorological Organization, the latest dust storm peaked on Wednesday, July 6, and according to Reza Arabi, the director of the Crisis Management Office of Sistan and Baluchestan, on that day, 104 people from the region were sent to hospitals and medical centers due to 'respiratory, ocular, and cardiac complications caused by the storm and dust.' Images published by Iranian news agencies and on social media show that several houses in the area have been buried under piles of sand and dust. The drying of the Hamoun wetland, drought in Sistan, and climate change have not only affected the health of the people but have also disrupted agriculture and daily life, raising air pollution levels to 20 times above the permissible limit. The drying of Hamoun and the insufficient water rights from the Helmand River provided by Afghanistan have also been cited as other reasons for the occurrence of these dust storms. Danial Mohibi, the governor of Sistan and Baluchestan, stated on Thursday to the IRNA news agency that many rural and nomadic areas in the province have become uninhabited. According to Abdul Sattar Doshoqi, head of the Balochistan Studies Center in London, about 30% of the people of Sistan have left the region and moved to Zahedan or other provinces of the country. Mr. Doshoqi, in an interview with Radio Farda, attributed the intensification of the dust problem in Sistan to 'mismanagement' by the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the Iranian government should prioritize 'pressuring Afghanistan to release water in the Helmand River and the Hamoun water rights.'