Zarqa camp is the oldest Palestine refugee camp in Jordan, and was one of the four camps established in the country to accommodate the refugees who left Palestine as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The camp was set up near the town of Zarqa by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1949. It originally housed 8,000 refugees in an area of 0.18 square kilometres.
UNRWA later replaced the original tents with concrete shelters and over the years the refugees have made improvements and added more rooms. The camp now resembles other urban quarters in Zarqa.
Statistics
- More than 20,000 registered refugees
- One women’s programme centre
- Four schools
- Two health centres
- One community-based rehabilitation centre
- One distribution centre
- One environmental health office
- One kindergarten/nursery
- Demographic profile
Programmes in the camp
Major problems
- Shelters need upgrading
- High unemployment rate
- Lack of sanitation labourers
- Sewage network needs upgrading
- Accumulation of refuse from construction
- Relocated refugees living in rented houses
InterTech 
