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Socioeconomic effect of dust storms in Kuwait

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Abstract

Kuwait is an arid country with an annual average rainfall of about 110 to 120 mm. Hence, dust storms have become a common environmental crisis. Although the dry summer months commonly have more dust storms, in recent years, dust storms occur more frequently in the spring season as well. Accumulated data of dust storms in Kuwait for the past 14 years (2001–2014) showed that the month of March had the highest number of dust storms (total 19), which is rather unusual, with an average of 8 dust storms per year (year 2008 had the highest dust storms of total 22). This study explored four socioeconomic effects of dust storms in Kuwait, specifically traffic accident rates, oil export loss due to close out of marine terminals, airline delays due to airport operation shutdown, and agriculture degradation. Statistical analysis using t test and Pearson correlation showed no apparent relationship between dust storms and traffic accident rates or agricultural production; however, loss of oil export and flight delay cost were affected by dust storms. There has been very few published research on the socioeconomic impact of dust storms; this is the first paper that explores the detailed socioeconomic effect of dust storms in Kuwait.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Kuwait Institute tor Scientific Research (KISR) and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) for financing this study through the grant 2012-4401-0l.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crisis Decision Support Program, Environment and Life Sciences Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P. O. Box 24885, 13109, Safat, Kuwait

    Ali Al-Hemoud & Mane Al-Sudairawi

  2. Coastal Management Program, Environment and Life Sciences Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P. O. Box 24885, 13109, Safat, Kuwait

    Subramanian Neelamanai

  3. Techno-Economics Division, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P. O. Box 24885, 13109, Safat, Kuwait

    Adel Naseeb & Weam Behbehani

Authors
  1. Ali Al-Hemoud
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  2. Mane Al-Sudairawi
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  3. Subramanian Neelamanai
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  4. Adel Naseeb
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  5. Weam Behbehani
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Correspondence to Ali Al-Hemoud.

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Al-Hemoud, A., Al-Sudairawi, M., Neelamanai, S. et al. Socioeconomic effect of dust storms in Kuwait. Arab J Geosci 10, 18 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2816-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2816-9

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