Mongolia’s deadly winter
A ‘dzud’, the name Mongolian herders use to describe a fierce winter that usually only comes around once in a generation, has left families struggling to get by.
As many as 300,000 pastoralists who rely on livestock to make a living and to feed their children are seeing their livelihoods and health ravaged by -45°C temperatures and thick snow, which has resulted in the deaths of millions of livestock.
The Mongolian steppe is littered with carcasses like this horse, which has died of starvation
Around 1.5 million goats, over 900,000 sheep and hundreds of thousands of cows and yaks have perished during this years’ bitter ‘dzud’.
Batbayar, 35, with his 3-month-old daughter, Lkhagvajargal. The family has lost 800 of its 1080 livestock: “We had some fodder, but it was not enough for all of them. I had over 70 horses, but have only 7 or 8 now. All the animals that are left now are very weak, and I expect more deaths. I will get 10,000 Tughrik (£4.60) for the skin of the horse when it costs at least 200,000 Tughrik (£92) to buy a horse. You’re ruined by just one disaster.”
3-month-old Lkhagvajargal. According to Tsetsgee Lkhaasuren, 53, a paediatric consultant with 29 year’s experience, at Uliasti General Hospital, the number of infants dying has increased. “Compared to last January and February, infant mortality has increased a lot both in under one-year-olds and over ones. We are seeing an increase in respiratory problems, anaemia and Vitamin D deficiency among children.”
Byambajav, 25 and her husband are worried about their future. “Animals are dying from cold and hunger. We used to have about 300 sheep and goats and we have lost 100. We will be out of our food reserves by April. I am worried that my son is not getting enough food to grow up healthy. We used to eat vegetables because some neighbours would grow them and we would swap a goat for a sack of potatoes, but now we don’t have any source of vegetables [because we have fewer livestock to trade].”
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Byambajav’s remaining 24 lambs huddle together for warmth in a tiny pen inside the family’s ger (traditional tent-like home) in Zavkhan province, western Mongolia. They bleat constantly because they are hungry.
Dulamsuren Tsedev, 32, with her newborn baby. They had to travel double the distance to get to hospital to give birth because the roads where blocked by snow.
Save the Children social workers found Ariunjargal on the street, living on a doorstep with her brother and mother where she is exposed to the worst of the weather. She is stunted because she hasn’t eaten enough nutritious food in her short life. Ariunjargal was encouraged to visit our drop-in-centre where she is now eating her breakfast and lunch and can take a break from the freezing cold.
Children from Kindergarten Eight, run inside gers – traditional tent-like homes – on the outskirts of Uliasti, in Western Mongolia. Many children who attend the free, government-run kindergarten are from ex-herding families who have migrated from the countryside in search of a better life. According to teachers, their parents are mostly unemployed.
“This year it was very cold. It was not something we had witnessed during the past ten years so it was very difficult for people here,” said Uranchimeg, who is in charge of the kindergarten.” Save the Children has helped 5,930 children by giving their schools and kindergartens fuel for heating.
Livestock are corralled into a small pen to protect them from the bad weather.
