A recent video produced by the Jordanian Civil Defense highlights the most frequent accidents occurring during summer vacations and indicates how to avoid dangerous situations and preventing serious injuries.

In the Mediterranean countries, during summer months, more accidents happen than during any other time throughout the year. From minor accidents like scrapes and bruises, to more serious ones like drownings, car accidents and wild fires. This is due to the fact that during summer families practice more open air activities like picnics, cookouts, reunions, and beach gatherings.  These activities, if not diligently planned to avoid accidents, may put at risk the safety of people, in particular of children. The Jordanian Civil Defense, as demonstrated during the implementation of the awareness raising project supported by the PPRD South, considers that education in safety and first aid is key to properly prevent summer risks.

The beginning of Civil Defence in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan dates back to the Emirate of Transjordan (1928 – 1946) when the Municipality of Amman trained and organized groups of civilians with very simple equipment that provided firefighting services to the population on a voluntary basis.

This presentation was made by the Deputy National PPRD South National Correspondent,  LT. Mamoun Abu Zraiq, at the First National Correspondents Meeting organised in Rome on 21-22 July 2009.

In preparation to their first meeting the PPRD South asked all the National Correspondents to prepare a presentation on the main features of their respective national Civil Protection system with the objective to create an initial shared knowledge base among the PPRD South National Correspondents Network and the PPRD South team. Almost all the National Correspondents prepared such presentation including the main information on both the legislative and institutional framework, as well as on the organizational setting of the National Civil Protection Authority and the overall Civil Protection system in their respective countries.

Download the presentation (in Arabic version)

Download the presentation (in English version)

Domestic accidents are claiming the lives of more and more children in Jordan’s poor and overcrowded neighbourhoods. For the Kingdom’s Civil Defence Department, providing children with a safe environment is a top priority and education is the key, under a project financed by the EU programme on Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters (PPRD South). By: Mohammad Ben Hussein 

Amman - Situated in a politically unstable region, battling water scarcity and an unsure peace process to the west, officials say that Jordan is facing every day  another  dangerous threat: deadly domestic accidents. 

Sameera, who lives in the Sweileh neighbourhood in northwest Amman, lost her seven-year-old son after leaving him unsupervised near the stove. “I put the food on the stove and went to hang wet clothes and left my son to watch the food to make sure it didn’t burn. The next thing I heard was my son’s screams, with fire all over his body,” said the 23-year-old mother.