The dark area above in the background is called a "ger" area. It includes thousands of households. A ger is what we may call a "yurt." It's a round, felt dwelling that has been used by Mongolian people for centuries -- particularly suitable for a nomadic lifestyle. However, many of the Mongols have moved to urban areas in recent years, establishing sprawling ger communities (ger areas), which include both gers and small wood houses around the major cities. These communities have no sanitation facilities other than pit latrines and are a ticking environmental time bomb. They number 120,000 households (or 600,000 people) in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia and the largest city in the nation with nearly one million people. There are 27,000 people living in ger communities in Erdenet, the 3rd largest city in Mongolia (population 85,000).