Discovery News
Yet a second
winter season of deadly Arctic storms has descended on Mongolia
where more than 15,000 head of livestock in Mongolia have been
killed by early snowstorms. At least 10,000
families have been forced to move to warmer areas.
Jugderdemidiyn
Gurragchaa, the head of the state emergency commission, reported
that 90 percent of the country's western provinces were blanketed
by snow, and that nighttime temperatures averaged minus 38 degrees
Fahrenheit (minus 39 Celsius).
The new disaster
follows a summer of drought and locust invasions that were preceded
by deadly winter storms. At least three million head of livestock
died in severe snowstorms last year. The storms were the worst
to hit the region in three decades.
More than
half of the country was affected by drought this summer, which
left up to 75 percent of the land too dry to grow feed for livestock.
Gurragchaa
reported that the early snows had blocked many roads and impeded
the distribution of food and aid, as well as fodder for snow-bound
animals.
At least one-third
of Mongolia's population depends on its livestock for food, heat
and transportation.
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