UNDP urges evacuation of Karak school over poor building conditions

AMMAN — A poorly constructed school building in the Jordan Valley is putting the lives of its students in constant jeopardy, according to the UNDP.

Located in Ghor Edhraa in Karak Governorate, some 140km south of Amman, the school was built with less than half of the required concrete-bearing capacity, according Amani Hammad, head of the UNDP's Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) portfolio.

In a recent interview with The Jordan Times, Hammad said the school has more than 200 students and is located in a geographically vulnerable region that is always exposed to natural disasters.

"We recommended that the students be evacuated and sent to another school," she said, adding that the UNDP has sent a petition to the Public Works and Housing Ministry requesting immediate action.

Hammad added that the Public Works Ministry, in turn, has informed the Education Ministry about the school's situation and conveyed the UNDP's plea for the immediate evacuation of the students.

"We don't know yet if this request has been met."

Education Ministry officials were not available to comment on the matter.

Outlining the UNDP's contributions to DRR policies in Jordan, Hammad said the organisation has supported the National Building Council by updating Jordan's seismic hazard map.

Improving national building codes to meet the international seismic code and retrofitting critically-built public facilities are also among the UNDP's contributions to Jordan's DRR measures, she said.

These contributions were presented during the Second Arab Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, last month (see story on page 4).

Hussein Hasanat, head of planning at the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA), said the southern region is always exposed to natural disasters that vary from flash floods to earthquakes, landslides and rock-fall.

With these risks in mind, the PDTRA has adopted a set of DRR measures, including the installation of flash flood early warning systems and training volunteers as rescue teams, Hasanat told The Jordan Times.

Khaled Abu Aishah, head of the planning and building department at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), said Jordan was among the first regional countries to adopt DRR measures.

"DRR is not a luxury. It is a science and a salvation tool, especially in vulnerable regions," Abu Aishah noted.

He explained that ASEZA has relocated all people living in the Shallalah region in Aqaba to a new area, where the houses they received were all built in accordance with the international seismic code.

Abu Aishah added that ASEZA has also installed flash flood early warning devices in many places in Aqaba and has trained residents on how to respond to emergencies and administer first aid during disasters.

"The local community in Aqaba is adequately integrated into the ASEZA's DRR strategy," he told The Jordan Times.

The first Arab Conference for DRR was held in Aqaba in March 2013 during which the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction awarded ASEZA with role model status for its DRR efforts.