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Dubai: Expo 2020 Calls on Participants to Join its Vaccination Drive

The latest Expo 2020 Dubai Steering Committee meeting. WAM
The latest Expo 2020 Dubai Steering Committee meeting. WAM
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Dubai: Expo 2020 Calls on Participants to Join its Vaccination Drive

The latest Expo 2020 Dubai Steering Committee meeting. WAM
The latest Expo 2020 Dubai Steering Committee meeting. WAM

The Expo 2020 Dubai Steering Committee has urged all of Expo’s 200-plus participants to join Expo 2020’s vaccination drive, praising the decision of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, to offer free vaccinations to all official participants and their staff.

During its latest meeting, held on Thursday, the Steering Committee expressed appreciation for his offer and urged all official participants to take measures to ensure the safety of their staff and visitors.
The recommendation was made as the Committee, representing the 190-plus participating nations and comprising Commissioner Generals from 34 countries, discussed the robust measures being implemented at Expo 2020 to safeguard all participants, workforce, suppliers, contractors and visitors, reflecting the UAE’s wider efforts against the ongoing global pandemic.

Manuel Salchli, Chair of the Expo 2020 Steering Committee and Commissioner General for Switzerland at Expo 2020, said: "Health and safety is a pivotal part of the planning and operations for all World Expos and the ongoing global pandemic has put this more sharply into focus. It is very important that all official participants should benefit from the UAE’s generous offer to vaccinate their delegations and it is the collective responsibility of all the countries to support this initiative to ensure an enjoyable and safe Expo for all participants."

The Steering Committee met after the sixth and final International Participants Meeting (IPM), which took place earlier this week. The IPM saw more than 370 senior representatives from 173 countries gather in Dubai to discuss final preparations ahead of the mega-event’s opening on October 1, and experience first-hand the robust health and safety measures that have already been rolled out.

“Expo 2020 and the UAE have worked diligently to implement a far-reaching program of precautionary measures, in close collaboration with the relevant local authorities and following the guidance of the world’s leading medical experts. The UAE should be applauded for bringing 173 participating nations to Dubai for this important meeting, ensuring the safety and well-being of all attendees,” Salchli added.

Dmitri S Kerkentzes, Secretary General, Bureau International des Expositions, said: "More than any other crisis, COVID-19 has shown us that global challenges require an extraordinary common effort. With the UAE consistently demonstrating its commitment to health and global solidarity, we are confident that – through close partnership and determined cooperation – Expo 2020 Dubai will be an inspiring and enlightening event offering safe and meaningful experiences to each and every visitor.

"The successful and safe organization of the International Participants Meeting this week and the offer of vaccines to all staff and international participants reinforces this strong commitment from the host of the first World Expo in the MEASA region."

Clayton Kimpton, Commissioner General for New Zealand at Expo 2020, said: "Over the recent IPM, we have heard, and experienced first-hand, how Expo 2020 remains committed to delivering an exceptional – and above all, safe – Expo for everyone, and we commend the organizers and the country’s leadership for their exemplary efforts.

"From the installation of thermal cameras and sanitization stations across the site, to mandatory face-mask wearing and the implementation of social-distancing regulations, we have been reassured to see the measures that have been put in place and hear how they will continue to be monitored and adjusted, in line with the latest information and guidance from the World Health Organization."

Tony Joudi, Commissioner General for the Bahamas at Expo 2020, said: "We applaud Expo 2020 for their prudent and responsible approach to COVID-19 and the challenges it continues to present for us all. Just as the pandemic requires a unified response, so does the delivery of what we believe will be a truly historic World Expo, and we pledge our continued commitment and support."

At the beginning of the year, Expo 2020 launched an extensive COVID-19 vaccination drive for all Expo 2020 employees and their households. More widely, the UAE has overseen one of the world’s fastest vaccination programs, already administering more than 10 million doses since the program began a few months ago.

Dr Amer Sharif, Head of Dubai's COVID-19 Command and Control Centre (CCC), said: "Since the beginning of the pandemic, the UAE has followed a clear strategy in managing COVID-19. Dubai’s COVID-19 Command and Control Centre has, since its establishment, developed protocols, guidelines and precautionary measures that are science-based and data-driven. The guiding principle in managing the pandemic has always been to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods."

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Crashing Waves in Hilltop Village, a Night of Terror from Spain's Floods

A general view of an area affected by floods in Chiva, Spain, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A general view of an area affected by floods in Chiva, Spain, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
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Crashing Waves in Hilltop Village, a Night of Terror from Spain's Floods

A general view of an area affected by floods in Chiva, Spain, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A general view of an area affected by floods in Chiva, Spain, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Irene Cuevas will never forget the sound of the waves crashing below her apartment’s balcony.

If only there had been a flash of lightning in the darkness to let her glimpse what sounded like a roaring sea.

“It was a constant fear because we didn’t have light to see by," Cuevas told The Associated Press. "We could hear the roar of the waves, which was unbelievable. The street was completely flooded and we were hoping for some lightning so that we could at least see what situation we were in. It was all waves, currents everywhere, The AP news.

“We have that sound of the waves burned in our memory.”

The devastating flash floods in eastern Spain this week that claimed over 200 lives and destroyed countless homes and livelihoods also seared a scar of terror in many survivors

Cuevas, a 48-year-old embryologist, is a resident of Chiva, a village perched on a hill about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Valencia city, whose southern outskirts were likewise ravaged by the floods on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Chiva got more rain in eight hours than the town had experienced in the preceding 20 months. Cuevas was at home and saw how the gorge dividing her village suddenly overflowed with rushing water.

The tsunami-like wall of water claimed at least seven lives in Chiva, home to some 16,000 people, and the search goes on for more missing, either in collapsed houses or in the gorge.

“It was terrifying because that night it began to rain and the water began to overflow the gorge and started carrying away cars and trees,” Cuevas said. “The underpasses of the bridges started to clog with debris, and the water started to flow through the entire village.”

The gorge, called the “Barranco de Chiva,” is normally dry, but it is fed into by several other runoff gorges and channels water to vineyards below.

The huge storm sent a blast of water that knocked down two of the four bridges crossing the gorge, while a third was left unsafe to cross. The sides of the gorge were eaten out, bringing down a sidewalk and several houses and tearing holes in others.

Cuevas, who moved to Chiva when she got married 18 years ago, lives one street over from the buildings bordering the gorge. She and other people living in her apartment building helped several neighbors from the building in front when they feared it would come down. The neighbors said their building trembled from the force of the water.

Cuevas and her fellow residents helped tie ropes or cords across the street so that the people on the other side could hang on as they waded through the rushing water. They then made it up the stairs and some 20 people spent a sleepless night in her second-floor apartment and the apartment above.

Amparo Cerda, Cuevas' upstairs neighbor, described herself as traumatized by her memories of the fury of the waves and the sound of “doors exploding” from the water’s force.

It was as if their building had become a ship lost in a storm at sea in the pitch black night.

“There were waves in the gorge, waves in the street below where the water came in the other direction and ran into the water coming from the gorge," Cuevas said. "So right here, at this corner, just where the houses fell down, the two currents hit and produced terrifying waves.”

“When the daylight came we could see the damage,” Cuevas said. “We saw all the houses that had disappeared and there was a feeling of impotence because you didn’t know where to start looking for people.”

Five days have passed since that night of terror, and in Chiva and other localities, such as Paiporta, Barrio de la Torre, and Massanassa, citizens and volunteers are pitching in to clean up the mountains of debris and the thick brown layers of mud left by the water.

Five thousand more soldiers are arriving in the area this weekend to help the 2,500 already deployed. Thousands of police officers have also been sent in.

But for now it is the people themselves still leading the way.

“Now we need to clean up and try to get back to normal because there are more rains forecast for the weekend, and that won’t help," Cuevas said. "We are trying to get everything ready for when the rains comes back. Because they will.”