Jordan Times
Friday, February 2, 2007

Gov’t, UNDP to formulate disaster risk-management master plan

AMMAN (Petra) — The government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Office will draw up a strategy to reduce the risks of natural disasters in Amman. The $500,000 project will formulate a disaster risk-management master plan through the strategy. Under the two-year project, several surveys will be conducted on natural resources to update previous information and develop a long-term strategy to deal with disasters. Initially, the capital will be the main focus of the project, which will cover other cities at a later stage. Several ministries, private organisations, the Civil Defence Department, the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation and the Greater Amman Municipality will contribute to the project. Recent research has proved that training on ways to deal with disasters is required, especially in highly populated and old residential areas in Amman. Moreover, recently constructed buildings are still not built to withstand earthquakes.