The number of livestock deaths caused by extreme wintry weather has exceeded 1.5 million in Mongolia, the country's State Emergency Commission (SEC) said on Thursday.
"As of today, at least 1,527,695 head of livestock have perished due to the dzud across the country," Sainbuyan Amarsaikhan, the country's deputy prime minister and head of the SEC, told a press conference.
"Dzud" is a Mongolian term for a severely cold winter when a large number of livestock die because the ground is frozen or covered by snow.
Frost on the nostrils of a horse in Tuv Aimak, Mongolia, February 7, 2024. /CFP
Over 80 percent of the country has been blanketed by snow, according to the country's weather monitoring agency.
As one of the last surviving nomadic countries in the world, Mongolia has recently elevated its disaster preparedness to high alert due to the harsh winter and livestock loss.
The promotion of livestock husbandry is seen as the most viable way to diversify the landlocked country's mining-dependent economy.