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Gers can turn over and roll away in the wind, but the home can be rebuilt relatively easily (Image: Annawhitney, CC-SA-4.0).
Herders struggle to protect the lives of their livestock during the most violent sandstorms. (Image: Taylor Weidman, The Vanishing Cultures Project, CC-SA-3.0).
easily.” The gers are designed for life on the steppes, including, in the deserts. Although the exterior is made of felt,
the wooden frame underneath is very sturdy. The walls are low, at only around six feet high, and the shape is round; consequently, gers can, for the most part, withstand heavy winds.
If they do collapse, Enkh comments, “It’s not dangerous, like a house. Nothing to hit you.” The gers collapse, and possibly blow away, and the family may lose their possessions, but the home can generally be rebuilt, relatively easily.
Enkhbayar Dashdorj, from Khuld sum Dundgobi, close to South Gobi, near the White Stupa, gives his account of what it’s like to experience a sandstorm. “All day and night, it was storming dust and dirt. It just kept pouring with dirt.”[i] North of his location, he says, some gers and fences were blown down.
According to Enkhbayar, sandstorms are a regular feature of life on the steppes and, usually, the family and the home are unhurt, but when they wake up the next morning, everything is covered in dirt and sand. “Sometimes we just have a dust storm, not a sand storm. Very heavy wind and dust.” But proper sandstorms reoccur. “The storm is not just one time, it comes back in intervals, and blows again. Now every time the wind blows, there's dust everywhere.”
Enkhbayar, like most of the 40% of the Mongolian population who live on the
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steppes, is a herder. He has more than 100 livestock including sheep, horses and camels. He tells how during one of the latest storms some of the family’s animals went missing and some died. Spring is the time when the babies of the herd are born and many were not strong enough to survive the storm.
The storms did not just claim the lives of animals, they also took the lives of people. “In our province, in total nine folks went missing,” says Enkhbayar.
Sara Baksh, who now lives in Ulaan- baatar but used to live in the countryside, explains that when the sandstorm comes, the herd runs away. According to Erden- munkh, the animals are conditioned to run with the wind, to seek shelter, rather than running into the wind. “So, the herders chase after the herd, and very often get killed or disappear,”[ii] says Baksh. “It is dangerous, but the herd
is their living... Sometimes, the father doesn’t come back. So, the wife or the son go out looking for him, and you wind up with two people missing.”
As a result of the storms, it is difficult to find grass for the animals to graze on. If the animals die, the herders and their families will lose everything. Consequently, the herders try to buy hay or animal feed, but it is expensive for them. A bundle of grass costs about Mongolian tughrik (MNT) 12,000 (about $4.21). Tejeel (grain) is even more expensive at between 25,000 and 35,000 tughrik. The government
and some foreign and local NGOs are providing some assistance for animal feed and replacement gers, but not every herder or family qualifies for help.
Bolorshagai, from Umnugobi Province in southern Mongolia, Noyon soum, says: “I was indoors during the storm. Other than being panic-stricken, and in fear, wanting to stay inside, and wanting to go to the toilet which is outside, and taking care of the livestock, there were no other thoughts.”[iii]
The small details are often the most revealing. Of course, the toilets are out- doors, so during a sandstorm, it may be impossible to go out to the toilet for a prolonged time. Water has to be provi- sioned, usually in 10-litre containers. If the storm lasts several days, the family may be unable to go out and get water.
The centre of the ceiling of the ger has a wide hole, for the exhaust pipe from the stove. During a strong storm, explains Baksh, the pipe can be taken down and the fire extinguished, so that the hole can be closed. This can be problematic during a long, cold winter, but, says Baksh, the time it takes for a storm to pass is usually not too long, and the stove remains hot for a few hours, so the family doesn’t get too cold.
Bolorshagai tells how storms like those just experienced usually have a severe impact on the daily lives of the herders. Her neighbours, she says, lost more than 80 animals, while her family lost about 30.