ULAN BATOR, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 of all the 21 Mongolian provinces have been experiencing extreme wintry weather, known as "dzud," the country's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Thursday.
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 in snow.
"At least 10 provinces, including Bayan-Ulgii, Uvs, Khovd, Zavkhan and Govi-Altai in the west, as well as Khentii and Dornogovi in the east, are now experiencing the dzud," the NEMA said in a statement.
In addition, eight provinces, including Sukhbaatar in the east and Bulgan in the north, are experiencing near-dzud conditions, the emergency agency said.
In 2016, a dzud killed more than 1 million livestock in Mongolia, a nation where pastoral herding is still common.
The livestock sector is a central pillar of the Mongolian economy. The country's total livestock population stood at 71.1 million at the end of 2022. ■
