Desert

Desert

The Impacts of Different Kinds of Dust Storms in Hot and Dry Climate, A Case Study in Sistan Region

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
A. Pahlavanravi 1
A. Miri 1
H. Ahmadi 2
M.R. Ekhtesasi 3
1 Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran
2 Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran
3 Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Yazd, Yazd, Iran
10.22059/jdesert.2012.32007
Abstract
Dust storms are catastrophic natural disasters that beside other disasters frequency occur in the arid and semiarid
regions worldwide. Drought occurrence, climate aridity, dryness of the Hamoun Lake cause strong winds to below.
These conditions have been prepared for dust storms in Sistan region. The damages to Sistan society have been
measured using different criteria. The result shows that, peak of dust storms takes place at 10:30 am and the particular
minimum was recorded at 6:30 pm. The maximal frequency of dust storms has been occurred in June and July. Since
the dust storms cause extensive damages, an attempt has been made to quantify the damage costs using an analyticaldescriptive
method based on questionnaires completed by the local community and organizations. The cumulative
losses in terms of physical damage and loss of productive man-hours have been estimated US$ 99.190 million, over a
five year period between 2000-2005.
Keywords
Dust Storm
Local Community
Damage costs
Sistan