WORLD NEWS: 350, 000 animals killed in extreme Mongolia weather

Hundreds of thousands of animals have died in Mongolia's extreme weather this year but charities say the crisis has gone almost unnoticed by the world.

More than 350,000 goats, sheep and cows have been killed by a natural phenomenon called "dzud" - a hot summer drought followed by a severe winter.

The combination means that animals can't graze enough during the warmer months to build up the reserves they need to survive winter temperatures that regularly plunge to -50C.

For a country where a third of the population rely on livestock to survive, many families are quickly going from affluence to poverty due to the slow-moving disaster.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched an appeal for more than $800,000 (£552,000) two weeks ago hoping to help 25,000 vulnerable Mongolian herders but less than half of that target has been raised.

IFRC's East Asia communications delegate Hler Gudjonsson told AFP that the disaster was foreseen last November but it was difficult to "raise funds for something that hasn't happened yet".

He added: "It's not a tsunami, it's not an earthquake and it's not a sudden disaster. It's a long-term condition and situation, so we don't have a breaking point where we can say, today this happened, and people suddenly need a lot of assistance.

"We're expecting to see a large number of families who will have lost everything, who will have gone from affluence to utter poverty."

Most of these people would be forced to move to tent districts on the outskirts of Mongolia's urban areas, living without even the basics and with little or no income.

Bayankhand Myagmar, 50, has a disabled daughter and ill husband and has lost about 400 of her 700 animals, despite letting the weakest sleep in the family tent.

She now fears for her family's future, saying: "My husband and I are over 50, so nobody will employ us.

"We will not find any other jobs, but we are not yet entitled to pensions."

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