United Nations warns extreme cold, heavy snow in Mongolia threatens lives

UN warns Mongolia’s severe weather threatens lives

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — The United Nations warned Monday that extreme winter weather that has killed more than 1 million livestock in Mongolia is likely to harm the country’s food supply and worsen poverty.

Meanwhile, a blizzard and brutal temperatures in neighboring China’s northwestern Xinjiang region has claimed 13 lives, state media reported Monday. The official Xinhua News Agency said 12 people had died in avalanches in northern Altay and Ili Kazak, while one person died of the cold, citing local authorities,

The record cold has affected almost 1.42 million people in Xinjiang, and 161,000 have been evacuated from their homes. Shortages of grain and fuel have also been reported.

Up north, 19 of Mongolia’s 21 provinces have been hit by heavy winter snow and temperatures that have plunged below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius), the organization said in a statement.

The extreme winter in the poor, landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia followed a summer drought that prevented farmers from stockpiling food for livestock.

“The poor did not have the resources to stockpile food or fuel for heating and the supplies in the now inaccessible villages as a whole are stretched,” said Rana Flowers, the U.N.’s resident coordinator in Mongolia.

The cold and heavy snow have already killed more than 1 million livestock, the organization said, citing the National Emergency Management Agency. More than a third of Mongolians herd livestock for a living.

Flowers said U.N. agencies were trying to reach the worst-hit people, and are particularly concerned about pregnant women cut off from medical facilities by the heavy snow — three have reportedly died in childbirth so far, she said. The agencies are also worried about pneumonia rates among children and pregnant women, and increasing malnutrition.

The U.N. is coordinating all donor contributions to Mongolia, after the government asked for food, medicine, heating supplies, warm clothing and money to buy and deliver food for livestock, the statement said.

In China, the severe weather has prompted the government to offer aid, with Premier Wen Jiabao pledging during his weekend trip to Xinjiang to offer subsidies and loans for farmers and shepherds