‘Hero’ engineer honoured after Jofeh collapses

AMMAN — Youth Minister Hadithah Khreisha on Monday honoured Moayad Awad, the young civil engineer from Jabal Al Jofeh area who was instrumental in evacuating residents of buildings that later collapsed.

Awad saw cracks in one building in Amman’s Jofeh neighbourhood and called the Civil Defence Department (CDD). He immediately entered the building and convinced residents to evacuate before the first building collapsed. 

The CDD subsequently evacuated hundreds from the surrounding buildings, with the help of police and social development officials. 

Khreisha commended Awad’s action, who in turn voiced his appreciation of the ministry’s gesture, which aims to encourage young Jordanians to help serve the Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The unemployed civil engineering graduate, who specialised in construction, was told by a resident that sand was falling from the building and that deep cracks had appeared, which Awad knew were indications of near collapse, Petra reported. 

The Jordan National Building Council maintained on Saturday that arbitrary construction and cesspools were the primary causes of the collapse of the three buildings in Amman’s Jofeh area, but residents have challenged this account.

Inhabitants say the wastewater network has not undergone proper maintenance since the 1980s.

The Jordan Geologists Association (JGA) on Monday decided to form a committee to study the causes of the collapse of the three Jofeh building. 

JGA President Sakher Ensour said the committee will look into the geological factors, which could help explain the causes of the collapse, especially given the existence of cracks in the area’s geological composition. 

Ensour called for a comprehensive study of residential areas similar to Jofeh, through the Royal Scientific Society and related specialists.