Siq Stability Project
Phase I: A field survey was conducted to the right and left side of the upper part of the Siq through UNESCO to identify all monuments on the Siq mountains, to define all risks that may be caused to the Siq path, to define the unstable rocks at the Siq sides and facades as well as the rocks debris on the Siq Mountains that may be moved by the winds or the running water from the top to the Siq causing risks to this corridor. After that, an action plan was developed to eliminate the risks to designated places and defined by coordinates away from the water channels and the Siq sides. In addition, terraces were placed on the water channels at the top (to reduce the speed of running water in the direction of the Siq and stop the movement of rock debris towards the Siq), constructing detours to water channels to run in their original places that were made by the Nabataeans to pour away from the rock debris and reduce the erosion of some Siq surfaces and facades. In addition, the UNESCO hired specialized climbers to do this work with a group of people from the Petra Park, where the company gave the Park three climbers a specialized course on climbing such facades and areas. They carried out landing operations on all rock facades of the Siq then it was removed from these façades and unloaded outside the Siq in a place determined and approved by the Park.
All works in the Siq were documented in photos, coordinates and reports and part of these works was documented on GIS software.
Phase II: After removing all risks in terms of rocks and rock debris, and the addition of terraces and moving some small and medium stones to stable places that do not pose risk to the Siq corridor, the UNESCO called specialists from Italy to conduct surveys to some of the rock facades that have a lot of cracks and cannot be removed due to their weight which is not less than 750 tons where such facades need to be renovated and fixed by using specialized equipment and engineers from outside Jordan. About 10 collapsible rock facades were defined and we determined the priority based on the degree of risk and the number of cracks in those facades so that the company finds solutions to fix them and eliminate their risk. This project was launched in May 2017 and the works will start in 1st September 2017 to renovate some facades according to their priority in terms of their risk.