The first group of Syrians has already arrived at the Azraq Refugee Camp, which will be officially opened on Wednesday, with a capacity of hosting up to 130,000 refugees.
Azraq is the third Syrian refugee camp in Jordan and “probably the biggest planned refugee camp in history”, Andrew Harper, UNHCR representative to Jordan, said on Monday.
“It probably is one of the biggest planned camps, because it’s organised; we have the resources and had 10 months to prepare it,” Harper told The Jordan Times over the phone, noting that in the case of the Zaatari camp, “we only had 10 days to prepare for it.”
“We had to adapt with the influx of Syrians and we didn’t have the resources then,” the UNHCR official explained. The Zaatari camp is currently hosting more than 170,000 refugees, he said.
According to official figures, the number of Syrians registered as refugees in the Kingdom has exceeded 600,000, while there are 750,000 Syrians who were in the country before the civil war erupted in March 2011.
However, the UNHCR is currently working with the Interior Ministry to double check the latest figures, according to Harper.
