Historical Background

The Beginning of the Civil Defense in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan dates back to Emirate of Transjordan, its duties were carried out by limited civilian groups under the responsibility of municipality.

In 1948 and later, as a result to actions progress and instability in the region, the needs had come for establishing new institution to protect civilians from war woes.

pursuant to regulation No.(18) of the defense Law No.(2) for 1939, prime minister issued Defense order No.(3) 1953, the order authorized the defense minister to form Civil Defense commission in the kingdom to carry out Civil Defense purposes and setting the suitable rules governing  these purposes.

In 1954, The defense minister issued the defense order No.(1) 1954(1) including forming Civil Defense committees in the Capital, districts, provinces and counties to carry out the purposes of Civil Defense, this order was amended in 1955 by Defense order No.(1) for 1955 including amending the shape of Civil Defense Committees.

due to the triple invasion on Egypt in 1956, and based on the late king Hussein bin Talal thoughts (May God rest his soul) that “Man is the most valuable we have”, The Royal Directives were issued to establish the Civil Defense Directorate and therefore, Civil Defense Law No.(12) for 1959 was legislated and replaced the Civil Defense temporary Law No. (35) For 1956. Civil Defense Directorate was part of public security at that time. In 1970 Civil Defense directorate was separated from Public Security directorate  and became the General Directorate of Civil Defense with a separated management. In 1978 Civil Defense was completely separated from Public Security directorate financially with separated budget. To keep up with the developments of the kingdom in 1990, the up growth and flourishing of The Kingdom, Civil Defense Law No.(18) 1999 was issued and replaced Civil Defense Law No.(12) for 1959. After issuing Civil Defense Law No.(18) for 1999.

The civil defense agency, which is a vital and effective part within the comprehensive national security system, received direct and continuous support by His Majesty , The Supreme commander,  until it became comparable to its counterparts in the civil defense and civil protection agencies in developed countries. The agency has taken confident steps within the process of modernization, development and field performance in all areas of work which enabled it to provide the best humanitarian services to the people of the country and to everyone who resides on the home land.

The agency has been provided with modern and advanced vehicles and equipment necessary to deal with all types of incidents that occur and require the action of civil defense personnel in addition to supporting the agency with human resources and qualifying them theoretically and practically by involving them in specialized courses in all areas of civil defense specialization and science in order to be capable to perform its duties efficiently, professionally and specially, in addition to horizontal expansion in establishing many civil defense sites.

The Civil Defense Service also included specialized teams in the field of dealing with incidents of hazardous materials, forest fires, and water and mountain rescue, in addition to the search and rescue team, which, with its integrated units and provision of all international requirements, is capable to be the first Arab team to obtain the heavy international classification in the fields of search and rescue.

The ambitions are many and numerous, but we would like to express our ambition to embody the concept of comprehensive civil defense, to bring the culture of civil defense to all the people of the country, and for all of us to adopt preventive behavior in all aspects of our daily lives as a practical approach on the ground in order to avoid the unfortunate incidents that occur as a result of underestimating the concept of Public Safety.