Some recommendations by independent committees on Dead Sea incident already in place — official

AMMAN — Some ministries and public departments have already started implementing the recommendations of independent committees’ reports on the Dead Sea tragedy, a senior official said on Monday. 

Secretary General of the Prime Ministry Sami Dawood said that Prime Minister Omar Razzaz has requested the concerned ministries to submit a report on the measures they took towards implementing the recommendations of the independent committees into the tragic incidents that claimed the lives of 21 people.

Dawood added that the Ministry of Tourism will endorse regulatory by-laws for adventure tours and impose new conditions on tour guides and travel and tourism agencies for 2019, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.

The Interior Ministry said that its affiliated departments will establish a diving centre near Maeen Dam and issue tenders to acquire lifeboats in addition to recruiting 200 divers, according to Petra. 

The Jordan Meteorological Department will link its forecast system to the Civil Defence Department’s operations room, according to Petra.

The Ministry of Public Works and Housing is currently implementing necessary maintenance for bridges through tenders, Petra reported.

The Transport Ministry developed a four-day weather forecast system that includes warnings, in addition to circulating weather conditions via television, radio and local press.

In October 25, 2018, flashfloods near the Dead Sea claimed the lives of 21 people, most of them schoolchildren on a field trip, along with families picnicking in the hot springs nearby.

A total of 46 students and teachers from a private school in Amman were swept away by the flashfloods.

The number of those rescued after the flood was 35, while the number of missing was unknown at the time, as too many people were present in the direct vicinity of the flood.

Submitting a report to His Majesty King Abdullah on the fatal incident of the Dead Sea’s flashfloods, the committee urged revisiting regulations governing school trips so that they “take facts on the grounds into consideration”.

The committee also recommended better coordination between the various ministries’ apparatuses through electronic connectivity, especially with regard to schools’ violations and to increase coordination between the directorates of education and the ministry headquarters in exceptional weather conditions, in order to grant powers to the directorates to suspend schools and cancel trips in such emergencies.

The committee urged the adoption of legislation regulating adventure tourism, including the selection criteria for appropriate locations for such activities, along with the requirements that should be met by travel agents and tour guides in this field.

The committee stressed the importance of improving the weather forecasting process so as to become more accurate through applying modern technologies.