Winter Has Come Around

In Jordan, you can enjoy the seasonal tradition as in Japan. Typical in the desert region, the temperature sharply goes down at the dawn and night, but except that, it’s much alike in Japan, slightly warmer.

The biggest difference is the rainy season. While it rains a lot between spring and summer in Japan, the rainy season in Jordan lasts a few months from the late autumn through winter, during which we receive the annual rainfall.

The temperature has dropped down slower than last year, which eases the daily life but concerns the local people for the delayed rainy season. In mid-November, responding to the announcement of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, the prayer for the rainfall was offered during the Salat ul Jummaregular Friday prayers, at the nationwide mosques. That prayer is the tradition passed over since the era of the prophet Mohammed, and probably thanks to that, it started to rain since the late November.

The winter preparation has started in Za’atari refugee camp since October to reduce the impact of the upcoming foul weather. This camp is located on the claystone, where the rainfalls don’t seep into the soil but stay on the surface, so the refugees living in the lower area of the camp may suffer the floods above the floor level and be forced to evacuate in a worse case. Moreover, the snowfall and storm are forecast from now.

【The refugee camp in the winter, 2016 to 2017】

To reduce the damage as much as possible with benefit of the past experiences, each sector has a discussion on the prevention and emergency plan. As a part of that, they’ve started to distribute the gas vouchers, blankets and foods, as well as some cash to purchase the winter clothes for children.

JEN, as a member organization in charge of water sanitation network, takes a lesson from the previous year’s calamity and plans to transfer the public water storages and to install temporary supply tanks, so that the public sanitation services, both waterworks and sewerage, will be operated smoothly as usual. In order to prevent the floods due to the heavy rain, we’ve unchoked the blocked roadside gutters and constructed new ones if necessary, as well as encouraging the residents to take a precaution themselves and instructing them on how to cope with the foul weather.

The urgent task is to secure the safety of the construction sites of waterworks and sewerage network undertaken at the refugee camp. We pay a constant attention to the safety of the construction sites as the excavation for the sewerage goes down as deep as 5 to 6 meters. The rainfalls make it difficult to recognize the excavation on the ground, which may cause cars and pedestrians to drop into it by mistake. We need to take a preventive action together with our constructors, and make sure that the excavated earth won’t be in the way of the transportation of the water supply and sewerage trucks.

There’s no way to escape from natural disasters, but we can prepare and take preventive measures to reduce the damages, with benefit of our past experiences and hand in hand with the local authority.

【Removing a part of the pavement to make stagnant water flow from the gutter in 9th district of Zaatari camp】