The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) just finished a huge relief operation in Mongolia that helped over 25,000 herders survive the country’s worst winter in almost 50 years, according to the IFRC official announcement. The winter of 2023-2024 brought a brutal Dzud – basically when heavy snow and ice stop animals from eating grass – that killed more than 8 million livestock. The Red Cross spent CHF 2.7 million helping herder families with cash, supplies for their animals, and mental health support across 21 provinces.
Mongolia’s herding families are getting hit harder by climate change as these disasters happen way more often. Dzud used to strike once every 10 years, but now it’s happening every two or three years. These events wipe out nomadic families who live entirely off their animals for food and money. The latest disaster killed 12.5% of the country’s livestock, putting thousands of families at risk of starving.
Uransaikhan, 68, from Sukhbaatar province, had to watch her animals slowly die during the crisis. “Our animals were starving – I fed them boiled tea because we had nothing else,” she said. Snow buried their traditional ger so deep that her husband had to lift her through the roof just to dig them out. By spring, they’d lost two-thirds of their herd. The Red Cross sent 900 volunteers to help 5,000 herder families with emergency cash, animal care kits, and counseling for nearly 11,500 people.
The help didn’t stop when winter ended. Red Cross teams built 30 winter shelters and gave business grants to help herders make money in different ways, not just from animals. “Dzud touches every part of a herder’s life,” said MRCS boss Bolormaa Nordov, explaining how they helped families survive while getting ready for future disasters.
Now the Red Cross is working on a long-term plan through 2032 to help Mongolia’s herding communities deal with the country’s changing and increasingly harsh climate.
