Capitals, SANA-A report issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), has warned of the increasing damage caused by sand and dust storms on human health worldwide and to national economies. which underlines the need for continued improvements in monitoring, forecasting and early warnings

According to the report, part of the organization’s annual Airborne Dust Bulletin, issued Thursday and highlighting hotspots of sand and dust storms, approximately 330 million people in more than 150 countries around the world are affected by these storms.

The report indicates that every year, around 2,000 million tons of sand and dust enters the atmosphere – equivalent to 307 Great Pyramids of Giza. More than 80% of the global dust budget originates from the North African and Middle Eastern deserts and can be transported for hundreds and even thousands of kilometers, across continents and oceans.

The regions that are most vulnerable to long-range transport of dust are: the northern tropical Atlantic Ocean between West Africa and the Caribbean; South America; the Mediterranean Sea; the Arabian Sea; the Bay of Bengal; and central-eastern China, the report added.

Nawal/Manar