MONGOLIACOUNTRY PROFILE
Contents:
1. General Information
2. Geography and climate
3. Natural and manmade disasters
4. Disaster management system
National Emergency Management Agency as a disaster management focal point
5. Process on implementation of Hyogo framework for action
6. Legal system and framework
7. Challenges in Disaster Risk
8. Latest disaster occurred in Mongolia
9. On-going projects implemented by NEMA or International Organizations.
10. Budget Size on National Level
11. ADRC counterpart

1. General Information
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the northand the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Ulaanbaatar city is the capitaland largest city, which is home to about 38% of the population. Mongolia is the 19th largest andthe most sparsely populated independent country in the world, with a population of around 2.9
million people. It is also the world's second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan. The
country contains very little arable land, as much of its area is covered by steppes, with mountains
to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately 30% of the populations are
nomadic or semi-nomadic. Mongolia is a parliamentary republic. The parliament is elected by thepeople and in turn elects the government. The president is elected directly. The constitution
guarantees full freedom of expression, religion, and others. Mongolia has a number of politicalparties, the biggest ones being the Mongolian People's Party and the Democratic Party. Mongolia
is divided into 21 aimags (provinces), which are in turn divided into 329 sums (districts). The
capital Ulaanbaatar is administrated separately as a khot (municipality) with provincial status.
Economy is centered on agriculture and mining. Mongolia has rich mineral resources, and copper,coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production.
In terms of the administrative system, The Mongolian Government‟s regulatory agency – theNational Emergency Management Agency – has the duty to conduct nationwide activities fordisaster protection. All the 21 provinces and the capital city have its emergency management
divisions and department.

2. Geography and climate
The geography of Mongolia is varied with the Gobi Desert to the south and with cold andmountainous regions to the north and west. At 1,564,116 km2 (603,909 sq mi), Mongolia is theworld's 19th-largest country. It is significantly larger than the next-largest country, Peru. It mostly
lies between latitudes 41° and 52°N (a small area is north of 52°), and longitudes 87° and 120°E.
Much of Mongolia consists of steppes. The highest point in Mongolia is the Khuiten Peak in the
Tavan bogd massif in the far west at 4,374 m (14,350 ft). The basin of the lake Uvs lake, sharedwith Tuva Republic in Russia, is a natural World Heritage Site. Most of the country is hot in thesummer and extremely cold in the winter, with January averages dropping as low as −30 °C(−22 °F).
The country is also subject to occasional harsh climatic conditions known as Dzud. Ulan Bator
has the lowest average temperature of any national capital in the world. Mongolia is high, cold,
and windy. It has an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters and short summers,
during which most of its annual precipitation falls. The country averages 257 cloudless days ayear, and it is usually at the center of a region of high atmospheric pressure.
It experiences a continental climate, with hot summers (temperature up to 410 C) and cold
winters (temperatures to -53o C). Diurnal temperature changes too can be very large. Rainfall isrelatively low, varying from 5 cm in the southern desert region, to 40 cm in mountain areas. 80 to
96 % of precipitation falls in the warm period from April to October. In the south, significant rainfall
begins in July.
About 40 % of the country is ~ 40 % hills (1000-1500m), and the remainder denotation plain. The
landscape includes alpine, mountain taiga, forest steppe, steppe, Gobi, and desert regions.
Rivers draining to the south and west terminate in inland lakes/salt lakes.
Crop growing season is short, 70 to 130 days; depending on location and altitude Unseasonable
frosts can destroy up to 30 % of crops. Crops are mainly root crops, wheat, garden
vegetables,(including greenhouse vegetables near Ulaanbaatar) and hay fodder. The main
agricultural production is animal husbandry with herds of cattle, sheep, horses, camels, and goats.
Wind speeds are often high, with dust and sand storms 40 days per year over a large part of thecountry, and in some regions over 100 days per year.
3. Natural and manmade disasters
A natural disaster is a natural phenomenon or phenomena occurred covering relatively large
territories and leading to human casualties or substantial damages to property and causing
thereby serious obstacles to smooth operation of the society. Identification of the natural disasteris not only depends upon its intensity but much more upon its socio-economic and ecologicalconsequences. In this view of point, the issue of natural disaster shall be considered inassociation with the social economic situation at the level of a given country‟s development, thepeople‟s life styles, infrastructure development, etc. For example, the phenomenon of so called“Dzud” (severe winter conditions) when pastures are snow-drifted due to heavy snowfalls takenplace in winter-spring seasons is referred to the category of natural disaster only under theconditions of our country with its transhumance cattle-breeding economy and would not be
regarded as a natural disaster in any other countries with the settled type of civilization. A strong
earthquake occurred in a desert place without human settlements is not disastrous for Mongolia
whereas if it takes place in any other country with densely populated areas it would cause heavy
losses and casualties which occurs rather frequently.

In Mongolia, there are occurred major and small disasters regularly as a result of Drought, Dzud,
Severe Snow and Dust Storm, Flood, Forest and Steppe Fires, Earthquake, Desertification,
Object Fires, Epidemic, Epizootic, Hazardous Vegetative Disease or spreading of Detrimental
Rodents, Bird Flu, Traffic accidents as well as Explosives, and increased the number andfrequency of disasters. These disasters cause huge number of damages to human life, theirproperties and environment and influence to the state social and economic sustainable
development negatively.
Chart: 1 Natural and manmade disasters in Mongolia
Classification

Type

Disasters

Natural Disasters

Climatic hazardous phenomena

Snow storm
Severe snowfall
Dzud
Dust storm
Flood
Steppe and forest fireDesertification
Thunderstorm

Geological threats

Earthquake
Landslides

Biological threats

Spread of detrimental rodents
Human infectious diseases
LivestockdiseasesManmadeDisasters

Technological accidents

oranimalinfectious

Industrial accidents
Traffic accidents
Leakageofchemicalradiological substancesandExplosion
Building fireSocialPublic disorder
Terrorist attack

4. Disaster Management System
The National Emergency Management Agency as a disaster management focal point
The National Emergency Management Agency‟s main duties are to develop legislativeenvironment on disaster protection, to provide strategic management, to evaluate disaster risk

and vulnerability, to implement activities on disaster prevention, disaster reduction, disaster
preparedness in all levels, organizing search and rescue work, response, restore main
infrastructures and rehabilitation, strengthening capacity of national disaster protection,
cooperation with foreign countries and international organizations in disaster protection field,
monitoring laws and legislations, and implementation policy on state reserve. And responsible forcoordinating the activities of different stakeholders who involves in the disaster response
including non-governmental or governmental organizations and private sectors, community
groups and the international organizations.
The capacity of National Emergency Management Service:
Emergency management department and divisions -22
Fire brigade –41
Rescue sub-unit -10• State reserve branches -32• Research Institute of Emergency Management organization -1• Rescue Specialized Unit –1• Supply and Procurement Unit -1
The State Disaster Protection Service –11 (group –37, state serviceman -3068)• Local Disaster Protection Service in 21 territorial unit –198 (serviceman -594)• Part time professional team –1981 (servants 44866)
Total number of servants:• Full time –3148• Part time -48528
Organizational Structure of National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia

CHIEF

Office for State Emergency Commission

Deputy Chief

Motor Depot

Procurement Division

Department of Financial
and Logistic Services

Financial and Economic Policy Planning
Division

Warehouse Service and TechnologicalControl Division

State Reserve andRecovery Department

Fire Fighting Division

Fire Fighting, Prevention and Inspection
DivisionFire Fighting
Department

Training and Public Awareness Division

Communication, Information andTechnology Division

Public Relation Division

Foreign Relation Division

Human Resource Division

Emergency Management andCoordination of Policy Implementation
Division

Disaster Management
Department

Administrative
Department

Policy, Planning, Monitoring andAssessment Division

Deputy Chief

State Reserve Division

Chart: 2

5. Implementation of Hyogo framework for action
Mongolia recognizes and approves the Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilienceof Nations and Communities to Disaster, adopted by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction
which was held from 18 to 22 January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan and focuses its activities toreduce disaster risk at the national level.
The National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia has been organizing the following
activities in the field of disaster risk reduction connecting with the above mentioned disastersituation and disaster response changes in the international arena.
1. The Parliament of Mongolia adopted the Law on Disaster Protection in 2004, and following
the Law there are established the National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia, merged
the State Board for Civil Defence, Fire Fighting Department and State Reserve Agency.
According to the Law on Disaster Protection, NEMA is responsible for the implementation of theState disaster protection policy and legislation, as well as for the professional organization ofnationwide activities. The Member of the Government of Mongolia directs the disaster protection
activities at the state level. Basically, disaster protection legal environment and implementation
structure of disaster management were completed.
2. National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia developed National Platform forStrengthening Disaster Protection Capacity of Mongolia 2006-2015 cohered with the Hyogo
Framework for Action 2005-2015.
3. National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia pays attention to define and assess
disaster risk, monitor it and improve early warning system. Besides, we developed Procedure on
Disaster assessment and approved it by the Government of Mongolia. Draft of Early warning
system was developed and it has been submitted to foreign countries.
4. Legislative environment of the coordination for capacity activity was created. According to
the resolution of the Government of Mongolia, ministries and agencies, which have main roles
using the professions and support in the possible disaster period or disaster period, wereappointed. Also in local area, disaster services were established and disaster protection tasks,
recommendations and instructions were given to the community accordance with the resolutionsof local administrator.

5. Some amendments were included in the Disaster Preparedness Plan in order to makedisaster response immediately. All levels of the local preparedness plans were renovated andthey have revision plans. In the national level, activity for the renovating disaster preparedness
plan has been begun. During the local command stuff exercise, we take into account possibility ofthe preparedness plan implementation and its practice.
6. We take into account increasing community participation in the disaster protection activity.
The understanding of the word “Volunteer” was defined in the Law on Disaster Protection.
National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia is implementing the UNDP Project“Strengthening the Disaster mitigation and management system in Mongolia” and in theframework of the project, the commencement of the developing disaster management on thebase of local community for supporting community initiative was made. Policy on disastermanagement on the base of local community was included in the Action Plan of the Governmentof Mongolia.
7. We take into account giving disaster protection education to the community so that
according to the Law on Disaster Protection, disaster protection training is being organized. We
organize the disaster management training to students of colleges and universities.
8. National Emergency Management Agency is carrying out to strengthen partnership andcooperation with national organizations as well it is pursuing the policy of establishing extensive
cooperation with the concerned organizations of various countries and international organizationsin the disaster protection field.
9. We carry the policy to be included risk into the insurance. We have begun developing thedraft of the Law on Disaster Insurance with the Insurance organization.
10. The United Nation Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team worked toassess the situation of disaster preparedness in Mongolia and gave us 33 recommendations toimprove disaster preparedness.
6. Legal system and framework
The role of the National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia is defined primarily by fourbasic laws: 1) The Law on Disaster Protection, 2) Law on Fire Safety, 3) Law on Forest andSteppe Fire Protection and 4) The Law on State Reserve. It is through these four major laws andother emergency directives that NEMA will be called on to provide oversight, coordination anddirect assistance in the event of a major catastrophe.
Amended Laws:•Law on Government of Mongolia;•Law on Management and Financing of State Agency;•Law on State service;•Law on Pension and Benefits of Military Serviceman etc.
The Earthquake Preparedness plan has been developed by the National Emergency
Management Agency of Mongolia and the National Research Center of Astronomy andGeophysics, and approved by the Government in 2010.
Legal Documents:•On implementation activities of Law on Disaster Protection•On Establishment of State Disaster Protection Service•On Approving Personnel of State Emergency commission and its activities•On Emergency service day•Program on Strategy and Structure changes of NEMA
•Rule of NEMA•Rule of Internal Affairs of NEMA
•Regulation on Guard service of NEMA
•Regulation on Parade•Regulation on Discipline etc.
About 40 legal documents were adopted by Parliament of Mongolia and Minister of Mongolia.
7. Challenges in Disaster Risk
Responding to a complex disaster such as an 8+ earthquake will present challenging issues for
NEMA and the Mongolian emergency response system that in all probability have not been
experienced before. Communications, emergency response and information assets will be
required to function under the most demanding of situations. Information will be very uncertain.
Traditional means of communications may not exist and emergency response assets will behampered by the earthquake.
- Lack of coordination between NEMA and other stakeholders.
- Language challenges (English, Russian) of the personnel.
- Retrofitting of the National level earthquake disaster preparedness plan
- Strengthening of the capacity of public awareness raising activities.
8. Latest disasters occurred in Mongolia
1. Dzud (Severe winder disaster)
Mongolia has one of the coldest climates in the world, with temperatures dropping below -20ºC for
several months each year. During 2009/10, Mongolia faced its most severe winter in nearly five
decades, which has been extremely harsh even by Mongolian standards, has resulted inincreased maternal and child mortality, and an unprecedented loss of livestock and the collapseof thousands of people‟s livelihoods and many basic services. The disaster is known locally as a
Dzud which is a complex, long-lasting natural disaster in which a summer drought is followed byheavy snowfalls and unusually low temperatures in winter, and then by a dangerous spring thaw.
Fifteen of Mongolia‟s 21 provinces, home to 769,106 people (28% of the country‟s population),
have been declared disaster zones, and another four are seriously affected.
Although the winter months are over, heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures persist in many
areas, prolonging and intensifying the suffering for both people and their livestock. The affected
population is suffering from a range of factors caused by the Dzud, including lack of access tohealth care, widespread food insecurity, loss of livelihoods, risk of a mass exodus of people fromrural areas to the cities in search of alternative employment, and psychological trauma for
affected herders and their families.

The thick snow cover has also meant that livestock, vital to the lives and livelihoods of asignificant proportion of Mongolia‟s population, have been unable to graze. Taken together withthe summer drought, which prevented the collection of adequate amounts of forage, and with theextreme cold, this has resulted in widespread deaths of animals and in a range of serious
consequences for the people who depend on them. By the end of April 2010, more than 9.1
million head of livestock (some 25% of all Mongolia‟s livestock) had perished nation-wide. The
loss of livestock, as well as a falling livestock birth rate, has had a devastating impact on affected
herders and rural communities. The livestock sector provides livelihoods for 30% of Mongolia‟s
population and represents 16% of the country‟s gross domestic product. At the end of May 2010,
almost 9,000 households (45,000 people) have been left without animals.
Over 50 percent of rural Mongolians live in poverty. Families have grown increasingly vulnerable
due to the lack of energy sources for heating, warm clothing, food supplies and access to basic
services. Fiscal constraints have caused the retraction of welfare benefits such as „child money‟,
upon which many rely to provide for their families. Unlike sudden onset disasters, the Dzud‟s
impact has escalated over months, forcing an increasingly weakened population to battle for dayto-day survival with diminishing food stocks, income and health status. Its impacts will further
unfold through the spring and summer seasons, as flooding, displacement and mass migration
generate further hardship.
2. Forest and steppe fire cases: as of 2009-2010
Mongolia has a 1.5 hundred thousand km2 of territory and most of the territory is steppe and Gobi
desert. Nomadic life style and agriculture is a traditional and most popular way of living andsteppe and forest fires causes huge damages to the pasture field which can significantly affectthe livestock and livelihood of the herder families. According to the statistics of last 10 years,
about 2400 of hazardous phenomena and accidents occurred annually causing the death of morethan 160 people and the loss of 65 billion MNT or about 3 percent of Mongolian GDP. Amongthem, 60 percent of these losses are caused by forest and steppe fire which is a human induced
disaster.

Please see below the fire cases and losses as of 2009-2010.

Fire Statistics 2009-2010(National Emergency Management Agency, Mongolia)
Statistical Data
Mongolia
Year
2009
2010
Population (Unit: thousand)
2,698
2,750
Area (ｋ㎡)

1,566,000

1,566,000

Ulan Bator
2009
2010
1,034

1,100

4,740

4,740

Total Number of Emergency Phone
Calls
Fires
Ambulances
RescueHazard Removal
Fires

Total Numberof Fires

Fire Causes

Structures
VehiclesForests
Ships
Airplanes
Others
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th

Fire Deaths
Fire Injuries
Firefighters‟ Deaths
Ambulance Runs
Total Number of Ambulance
Runs
Acute Illnesses
Traffic Accidents
OthersTotal Number of Hazard RemovalYour Organization
Men
FullNumber oftimers WomenFire
Personnel
MenParttimers Women
Number of Fire Stations
Number of Branch Fire Stations
Pumpers
Ladders
Squirts
Foam Trucks
Number of
Rescue Trucks
Apparatus(including
scuba rescue
trucks)Ambulances
Fireboats
Helicopters(Unit: million
Fire Budget
MNT)

2,165
2,165
259
260
260

2,541
2,541
248
248
248

1,318
1,318
259
260
260

1,691
1,691
248
248
248

990
174
120
－
－
1,001
Electric
Open Fire
Stove
Cigarette
match
Childrenplaying
55
41

1,560
255
104
－
－
726
Electric
Open Fire
Stove
Cigarette
match
Childrenplaying
65
55

457
81
4
－
－
780
Electric
Open Fire
Stove
Cigarette
match
Childrenplaying
33
29

1,012
149
5
－
－
530
Electric
Open Fire
Stove
Cigarette
match
Childrenplaying
59
49

259

248

259

248

98
162

91
157

98
162

91
157

2,784
339

2,784
342

745
85

745
88

42

45

12

13

148
7
2
2

151
7
2
2

28
1
1
2

28
1
1
2

5

6

4

4

1

1

1

1

30,834.1

29.244.3

4,771.5

4,510.8

(Unit: million
USD)*
21.47
*1,435 Mongolian Togrog (MNT) =1.00 U.S.Dollar (USD)

21.36

3.32

3.29

9. On-going projects implemented by NEMA or International Organizations.
1. The project “Strengthening the Disaster Mitigation and Management System in Mongolia” hasbeen implemented by the national disaster management authority since 2002, and is currently in
its third phase. The overall project goal is to contribute to the sustainability of the country‟sdevelopment gains by reducing risks and vulnerabilities through enhanced government capacity,
and wider partnerships with other sectors and regions.
The principal objective of the Phase III is to support the implementation of the long-term disasterrisk management strategy of Mongolia to minimize vulnerability, improve preparedness, enhance
institutional capacity for disaster management and emergency response, and assist in adapting toclimate change that adversely affects sustainable development of the country, especially those in
the rural environments. Within this objective, the project has the following three Outcomes:
Outcome 1: Professional capacities of the National Emergency Management Agency andbranches to respond to emergencies enhanced
Outcome 2: Increased awareness for disaster risk reduction through strengthened partnerships
Outcome 3: National capacity for climate resilience and adaptation to reduce disaster risks
strengthened
2. The project “Avian Influenza and Human Influenza Preparedness and Response”
The Government of Mongolia developed and approved a National Strategy on avian influenza
preparedness and response in 2007. The goal of the National Strategy is to limit outbreaks andspread of avian influenza, prevent human infection by the highly pathogenic virus, and tominimize the risks and threats to health and economy through improved international and intersector cooperation. Effective, well coordinated and interrelated activities at the social, economic,
legal and levels are required to prevent or reduce the significant losses that could be caused byavian influenza outbreaks and a human influenza pandemic.
World Bank carried out an assessment of the Mongolia‟s avian influenza preparedness andhuman pandemic prevention strategy in February 2007 and subsequently decided to provide
financial and technical support in this direction and started the project “Avian Influenza andHuman Influenza Preparedness and Response”.
Project goal:
Improve the capacity of avian influenza and human pandemic response in Mongolia.
The following issues are to be addressed by the project:
Improve the avian influenza outbreak and human influenza pandemic preparedness planning at
the national and aimag (province) levels:- Establish early warning system and surveillance system for avian influenza outbreak andhuman influenza pandemic- Improve the capacity of avian influenza outbreak and human influenza pandemic
prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
- Monitor and evaluate avian influenza outbreak and human influenza pandemic
preparedness and response planning at the national and aimag (province) levels.
10. Budget Size on National Level
In the fiscal year 2011, the national budget for emergency management service wasapproximately 40.6 billion tugriks (40 million USD). The budget was allocated to the fields of i)scientific technology research ii) disaster prevention and preparedness iii) Renovation of theequipments and facilities; and iv) Disaster recovery and rehabilitation.

11. ADRC Counterpart
Foreign Relation Division
National Emergency Management Agency
Government Regulatory Agency
Mailing address: Partizan‟s street-6, Sukhbaatar district, Ulaanbaatar city-210644, Mongolia
E-mail address: nema_mongolia@yahoo.com, for.rel@nema.mn
Telephone: +976-11-262416, +976-11-263567
Fax: +976-11-262416