An unusually severe winter is keeping its grip on Mongolia. Hardest hit are nomadic herders who have already suffered a summer drought.<br /><br />It's a bleak scene, one that's become common in Mongolia this winter.<br /><br />More than a million livestock have died due to extreme cold.<br /><br />Temperatures have dipped to below minus 40 degrees Celsius in most of the country.<br /><br />That's well below habitual winter temperatures.<br /><br />The Red Cross say the cold could leave 200,000 people hungry.<br /><br />[Francis Markus, East Asia Red Cross Communications Official]:<br />"Many of the herder families, especially the poorest, those with herds of fewer than 200 livestock, may face a situation where they simply don't have enough animals left to make their livelihoods sustainable." <br /><br />Frostbite presents a serious health risk for Mongolia's nomadic herders.<br /><br />So does the threat of infection from the rotting carcasses that litter the fields.<br /><br />Heavy snow has frozen into ice on many roads, making travel by car impossible.<br /><br />Walking is not much easier.<br /><br />The disaster has led to a mass migration into the capital Ulan Bator.<br /><br />Many now live in tent "shanty towns," with little prospects of employment.<br /><br />With Spring still three months away, there appears no respite on the horizon for these desperate people.
