Tens of thousands of nomadic herders in Mongolia face hunger and the loss of their livelihoods, the Red Cross warned on Thursday, as temperatures plummet and heavy snow blankets much of the country for a second straight winter.

In December, the Mongolian government asked international agencies to provide aid to the most vulnerable herder households who are suffering extreme winter conditions known as a "dzud". The dzud is peculiar to the landlocked Asian nation and has become more frequent in recent years.

More than 157,000 people across 17 of 21 provinces are affected by this year's dzud, said Nordov Bolormaa, secretary-general of the Mongolian Red Cross. More than 70 percent of the country is currently covered in snow, according to the government.

The Red Cross launched an appeal on Thursday for $654,000 to help 11,300 people with cash, health services and other support. In response to the particularly harsh winter which has struck large parts of Mongolia since November, the European Commission is providing over 115 000 EUR in humanitarian funding to bring immediate relief to the most affected families. The aid will directly benefit 5000 most vulnerable individuals in some of the country’s worst-hit provinces, namely Khuvsgul, Selenge, Uvs and Zavkhan.

Around 30 percent of Mongolia's 3 million population lives off animal herding, according to the World Bank, and meat is the primary source of food.

Mongolian government figures show more than 42,000 animals had died by early February. The Red Cross warns that number will soar as severe weather is expected to continue through March.

As many as 1.1 million livestock died last winter, and the dzud of 2009-2010, one of the most severe in history, saw 9.7 million livestock deaths. (Reuters)