19/2/2010
** Warning, this video is a heart wrencher… **
The winter in Mongolia just got upgraded from “worst in 30 years” to “worst in anyone’s living memories.” (Hey, at least we’re not talking in terms of threat level color right?) I could go on and on about how bad it is but I’ll just let you read it (link, link) and watch.
Two points that are standing out to me most:
1) The fact that 1.7 million livestock have died and the Red Cross is predicting that up to 20 million could die. Just for perspectives sake that’s half of Mongolia’s livestock population. The last time a winter like this happened the capital city’s population doubled with all the immigrating herder families who lost their animals.
2) That there are isolated rural communities that the government hasn’t heard from since November. What that means in Mongolia is that small towns, connected to other towns and the capital only by dirt roads and telephone lines have lost these fragile connections due to the weather and not even the government knows if they are ok. I heard the military is sending out big helicopters on search and rescue missions to deliver supplies and evacuate people. Problem is that there’s a lot of families living out on their own with no one else for miles around. The fear is that some of these people will just not make it.
I can’t even really give you a way to do something, to help. Some big NGOs like the Red Cross and CAMDA are trying to deliver fodder for animals and food and nutritional items for people, but it’s not an easy job. Russia and China are sending emergency supplies by train. All we can do is pray it arrives soon and gets to the right people.
Personal note: It’s so cold here. But other than that we are in no danger except from possible skyrocketing meat prices due to no more animals. Don’t worry about us, it’s just cold.
This post was reblogged from jrenich.
