Dust Storms Now Hitting Tajikistan 35 to 45 Time a Year, 10 Times More Often than in 1991, Dushanbe Experts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 25 – One of the most serious consequences of water shortages in Central Asia has been that dust storms with their negative impact on public health are now hitting the countries of that region far more often than was the case three decades ago, according to Muazama Burkhanova.

            An independent Tajik specialist on the environment, she cites the cites the finding of the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences that dust storms now hit that country 35 to 45 times a year, up from only three or four time in 1991 when Tajikistan gained independence (cabar.asia/ru/puti-adaptatsii-k-novoj-realnosti-borba-s-pylnymi-buryami-v-tadzhikistane).

            According to World Bank research, the dust storms are now costing the Tajik economy four percent a year; and according to Dushanbe officials, a minimum of 4800 Tajiks have lost their lives to illnesses caused by the dust storms, and many more suffer from long-term illnesses as a result.

            The dust storms are affecting both cities and rural areas, and activists like Burkhanova are calling for the government to go back to traditional forms of economic activity in the hopes that the situation will not continue to deteriorate further. (For background on these appeals, see fsci.tj/.