- The Education Ministry and the school are responsible for what happened
AMMAN: Veteran weatherman Jamal Al-Mousa told Arab News there is a flaw in how most people react to weather forecasts.
Many people believe that weather predictions should have no margin of error, and that their accuracy should be 100 percent, he said. “This is not possible, of course,” he added.
“The Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) weather reports are based on scientific analysis and satellite pictures. But the weather is subject to change at any time. Failing to issue accurate reports should not be a reason for the public not to take weather forecasts seriously. What would they lose if they take precautions?”
Al-Mousa, a weatherman for 40 years, said all parties shared responsibility for the tragic incident on Thursday. “The Education Ministry and the school are responsible for what happened. But they are not the only ones. The police department and the families of the victims also bear part of the responsibility,” he said.
Nasser Bashiti, a former school principal, told Arab News that in the past few years many JMD weather forecasts were unreliable. “The efficiency of their reports was not up to standard and many of the predictions never even came close to reality. “In normal situations, people should take precautions and prepare for any bad weather conditions. But even apart from the JMD’s failure to issue reliable and scientific reports, people trust international weather reports or non-government weather agencies, and in many cases these institutions lack professional and advanced weather-forecast devices.
“This leads to people’s recklessness with regard to weather forecasts.”