Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ An ‘emergency group’ led by U.Enkhtuvshin, Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the State Emergency Commission, Major-General T.Badral, chief of National Emergency Management Agency, and Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Minister B.Batzorig, worked in western and central aimags. They saw wintering conditions and operations of local emergency commissions to resolve pressing issues in the aimags and oversee preparations and preparedness of emergency staff.
 
On January 25, the emergency group worked in Uvurkhangai aimag and called a meeting of Emergency Commission of the aimag. According to Uvurkhangai aimag Governor G.Ganbold, there are 5.7 million head of livestock owned by 16,087 herder households in the aimag.
Due to 20-24 time heavy snowing and 5-6 time storms, grassland covered with ice and thick snow. It triggered complications of wintering and animals’ grazing.
 
As of today, the aimag’s 14 soums in khangai and steppe zone suffer ‘white’ zud disaster. It caused many herders to graze their animals in the territory of five soums of gobi zone. However, the over-flow of livestock migration damaged the grazing areas and led to suffer ‘hoof’ zud. Currently, 12.1 thousand head of livestock of 13 soums perished due to ‘hoof’ zud.
 
About 95 percent of the aimag’s territory was covered with thick snow, measured 25-45 cm, and 90-150cm in ravines. In regard with recent wintering complications, the aimag’s Emergency Commission put forward a proposal to sell the hay of state reserve at reduced price and renew a depot of automobiles of the aimag’s emergency.  
 
According to Cabinet’s January 19 decision to distribute 6,714 tons of hay to aimags with a high risk of zud disaster, Uvurkhangai aimag will receive 570 tons of hay free of charge and 550 tons of fodder at 50 percent reduced price.
 
After seeing wintering conditions and meeting with herders, Deputy Prime Minister U.Enkhtuvshin decided to give additional 320 tons of hay free of charge and 300 tons of fodder at 50 percent reduced price.
 
He instructed to distribute the hay and fodder to herders of eight soums with extreme harsh winter conditions, reach those urgently who became unable to get contacted due to heavy snow and pay special attention on pregnant mothers, elders, disabled people and children who are unable to go to school.  
 
Zud is a Mongolian term for a severe winter in which large number of livestock die, primarily due to starvation, being unable to graze, in other cases directly from the cold. There are various kinds of zud, including white zud, which is an extremely snowy winter in which livestock are unable to find nourishing foodstuff through the snow cover and starve.
 
Black zud is a situation where herders lose livestock due to lack of snowfall, and ‘hoof’ zud refers to serious lack of and extreme damage to livestock grazing areas due to over-flow of livestock migration.