The UAE has extended its condolences and support to Myanmar and Thailand following Friday's earthquake that caused widespread destruction and loss of life.
In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended its sincere condolences to the governments and peoples of Myanmar and Thailand and the families of the victims of the tragedy, as well as its wishes for a speedy recovery for all the injured, state news agency Wam reported.
Rising death toll and widespread damage
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, near Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, has caused more than 1,000 confirmed deaths, and rescue teams continue to search for survivors.
According to local authorities, at least 2,376 people have been injured, with 30 missing. The statement suggested the numbers could still rise, saying, “detailed figures are still being collected”.
The earthquake, which struck at noon, was followed by several strong aftershocks, including one measuring 6.4 in magnitude.
The tremors caused extensive damage, collapsing buildings, roads and bridges, and causing a dam to burst.
Impact in Thailand
The quake was also strongly felt in neighbouring Thailand, rocking the capital's greater Bangkok area, home to approximately 17 million people.
Authorities in Thailand said that so far six people had died, 26 were injured and 47 are missing, most from a construction site near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
