(MENAFN- Jordan Times) Jordan is bracing for the potential influx of "hundreds of thousands" of Syrians, officials say, amid an ongoing refugee flow averaging some 500 persons per day.
According to a government source, officials are preparing for the potential arrival of up to one million Syrians as part of several contingency plans should the security situation across the northern border deteriorate further.
As part of an emergency response plan, the government has given the UN the green light to establish up to 22 refugee camps in the northern region to house over 500,000 Syrians, said the source, who preferred anonymity because he was unauthorised to speak to the press.
Relief officials are set to complete the Kingdom's first Syrian refugee camp - a tented facility with a 10,000-person capacity in the Zatari region near the border city of Mafraq, 80km northeast of Amman - by the end of the week, with work already under way to establish a second camp at a previously unused facility in Ribaa Sirhan.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Zaatari camp will be expandable to house up to 130,000 refugees should the need arise.
Meanwhile, more vulnerable Syrians are coming forward to register with the UN, with thousands of new applications pushing the total number of registered refugees in the Kingdom to 32,800, a number expected to surpass 35,000 by the end of the month.
The spike in registrations comes amid an ongoing funding shortfall, with the UN yet to secure 10 per cent of the $80 million pledged by the international community to support Syrian refugees in Jordan and relief agencies facing the added costs of establishing the refugee camps.
Syrian refugees have been accommodated in a series of so-called transit facilities to house new arrivals as they undergo security background checks.
A recent mass exodus of refugees sparked by fresh clashes between rebel forces and the Syrian army has led to severe overcrowding at these facilities, with some centres holding up to five times over their capacity.
The move to establish the camps comes as a bid to relieve the stress the 140,000-strong refugee community is placing on Jordan, with the presence of thousands of Syrians leading to a housing shortage, a spike in water demand and rising food prices in the northern region.
Despite the added burden, Amman is maintaining an open-border policy, providing refuge as well as access to public health and educational services to all Syrians crossing into the country.
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