As a result of climate change, global warning as well as the impact of human activity there are increase of natural hazards and their frequency in Mongolia. Winters are long and extremely cold with frequent temperatures below -300C. Periods of Dzud ( Mongolian term for an extremely cold winter, which almost always includes blizzards and extreme snowfall). Dzud occur about once every ten years, invariably with disastrous consequences. Mongolia is at high risk for natural disasters such as earthquakes. Each year country experience about 30-50 quakes of magnetite 5.0 or above (NEMA, 2005). Mongolia has also seen an increase in soil degradation and desertification over the last decades due to draught and global climate change.
The health sector emergency and preparedness plan has been developed and approved. UN agencies have also developed a contingency plan for earthquake preparedness. MOH and WHO are co-cluster leads for health cluster and all stakeholders in the health sector are members of the cluster which meets frequently to coordinate each others work in health emergency and disaster preparedness.
