Jordan struggles to cope with Syrian refugees Clutching their children and a few suitcases, a group of Syrian refugees waits nervously beside a bus at the gates of the vast Zaatari camp in northern Jordan. They are preparing for an improbable ride that will take them full circle - from the safety of the refugee camp back across the Syrian border and into the war zone of Deraa province, where the uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad started 18 months ago. Among the returners is Abu Mohammed, 32, who says he is fed up with the constant dust and primitive conditions in Zaatari. His home near Deraa was demolished by government forces and he has little hope that the fighting will end any time soon. But after more than a month of discomfort and boredom in the Jordanian desert, even Syria seems like a better place. "In Syria, you die once," he says. Here, you die a hundred times a day. Not many Syrians share his desire to return to the violence that rages in Deraa - the UN estimates that no more than one in 100 refugees decides to go home. "You always have refugees who go back and there is often a whole host of reasons why they do so," says Andrew Harper, the Jordan representative of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. However, the buses of returners show how hard it is for neighbouring countries to cope with Syria's escalating refugee crisis. Jordan, a small country with a big budget deficit, has won praise and admiration from the UN and other bodies for its willingness to take in the thousands of refugees that stream across the border every week. But Jordanian officials admit that they are struggling to cope with the influx and that conditions at Zaatari need to improve fast. The camp opened in late July and is now home to more than 30,000 Syrians. Its makeshift alleys are filled with tales of terror from across the border - and bitter complaints about the refugees" current predicament. The vast majority are housed in simple tents, where they shelter from the fine, brown dust that constantly blows through the camp and settles everywhere. There are two playgrounds for the more than 10,000 children who live there, but, so far at least, no schools and little in the way of entertainment or distraction. According to Mahmoud Lamoush, the Jordanian official who manages the fast-expanding camp, hundreds of refugees arrive every day. Along with the UNHCR and a raft of other aid groups, Jordan is working to expand the camp's capacity to 80,000. No less urgent, say officials, is the task of moving as many refugees as possible out of their tents and into caravans before autumn rains arrive in as little as five weeks" time. "Jordan by itself cannot solve this problem," says Mr Lamoush of the escalating refugee crisis. We need the support from the UN, the Gulf countries, the Europeans. We can handle 80,000 refugees but only if there is financial support. His plea is part of a broader appeal for help from Jordan, which says it needs at least $700m from the international community to cover the spiralling cost of the refugee crisis. Zaatari houses only a fraction of the more than 180,000 Syrians who have crossed the border since fighting began. Some are housed in smaller refugee camps along the border, but most are staying with family and friends elsewhere in the country, or are able to pay for their own accommodation and food. That was never an option for Nihad Abdallah Kteish, a 22-year-old, who arrived at Zaatari with his wife and baby daughter from Mahaja, a small town in Deraa province. His home was destroyed in an artillery attack and he now lives in a dust-covered tent, his four-and-a-half-month-old infant rocking quietly in a cardboard box that serves as a makeshift cradle. Like other refugees, he tells of a province that has been almost emptied of its population, with towns such as Deraa, Mahaja and Heraq down to a fraction of their prewar inhabitants. For all the problems at Zaatari, Mr Kteish says he has no plan to return. Where can I go? I don't have a house any more," he says. The camp at Zaatari is certain to hear many more such stories in the weeks ahead, as Jordan and the UN brace themselves for an influx that could more than double the present refugee population there. Jordan's pleas for help, meanwhile, will ring louder with every week that passes. "Jordan has done an incredible job, at a significant risk to its own finances," says the UN's Mr Harper. They have kept the borders open. And we have to ensure that the international community provides the necessary support to ensure that the borders stay open," he adds.