ULAN BATOR, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Around 8 million heads of livestock have been moving from one place to another for better pasture to overcome the current harsh wintry weather, the country's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Tuesday.
"So far, at least 7.8 million heads of livestock from 18,800 herder households have been moving from their own areas to another in search of better pasture," the NEMA said, adding that its regional headquarters have been established in the eastern provinces of Khentii, Dornod and Sukhbaatar, as well as in the northern province of Khuvsgul to provide the state support and health care services to the herder households.
According to the National Statistics Office, Mongolia, one of the last nomadic countries in the world, had 64.7 million livestock animals at the end of 2023.
Almost all provinces of Mongolia have been experiencing the extreme wintry weather known as "dzud," and around 90 percent of the country has been blanketed by snow up to 60 cm, the country's weather monitoring agency has said.
Many livestock die during Dzud because the ground is frozen or covered with snow. ■
