Mongolia: Dzud - Jan 2010

In the winter of 2009-2010, Mongolia experienced a complex, long-lasting natural disaster known locally as a dzud, in which a summer drought is followed by heavy snowfalls and unusually low temperatures in winter, and then by a dangerous spring thaw. Fifteen of Mongolia’s 21 provinces - home to 769,106 people, or 28 per cent of the country’s population - were declared disaster zones, and another four were seriously affected. An overall lack of resources prompted the Mongolian Government to appeal for assistance from the international community (OCHA, 6 Jul 2010) and, as a result, in February 2010 the United Nations CERF allocated $3.7 million to the humanitarian country team in Mongolia. (OCHA, 26 Feb 2010)

The IFRC also allocated CHF 100,000 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund in January 2010, and launched an Emergency Appeal for CHF 1,062,295 on 29 March 2010 to assist 1,800 of the most severely affected herder families in Bayankhongor, Dundgobi, Khentii, Khovd, Sukhbaatar, Tuv, Umnugobi and Uvs provinces. By October 2010, this emergency appeal was successfully completed, with target funding fully covered. (IFRC, 28 Feb 2011)