At least 611,924 livestock animals have died across Mongolia so far this winter, due to the extreme cold weather known as "dzud," local media reported on Friday, citing the country's State Emergency Commission (SEC).
Dzud is a Mongolian term to describe a severely cold winter when a large number of livestock die because the ground is frozen or covered by snow.
Mongolia after a snowstorm on February 8, 2024. /CFP
Among the country's 21 provinces, Khentii, Dornod, Sukhbaatar and Dornogovi in the east, as well as Arkhangai in the central west, registered the highest rates of animal death, the SEC said in a statement.
In addition, at least 13,500 herder households have been trapped in the snow, and 38,400 km of roads have been closed due to the snow, it said.
A family on their migration got covered in snow as they made their way through a blizzard with their herd of goats in February, 2024. /CFP
Mongolia, one of the last surviving nomadic countries in the world, has recently elevated its disaster preparedness to high alert due to the harsh winter and the livestock loss.
The number of livestock in Mongolia stood at 64.7 million at the end of 2023, according to the National Statistics Office.