Fire on Easter Island ‘irreparably’ damages iconic moai

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Fire on Easter Island ‘irreparably’ damages iconic moai

5:02 CAT | 10 Oct 2022

Photo provided by the Municipality of Easter Island showing the area of a fire on the Island.

At least 80 of the monolithic human figures were damaged in the blaze, which has now been brought under control

The Rano Raraku volcanic crater on Easter Island, where the ancient Rapa Nui made the majestic moai, cannot be accessed by fire trucks. So when Chile’s National Forestry Corporation (Conaf) were alerted to a fire in the territory last Tuesday, it had to send the firefighters to put out the flames on foot. Due to the complexity of the task, and the strong winds, the flames were able to destroy 104 hectares of grassland and damage around 80 moai – the island’s famous monolithic human figures, which were carved between 1250 and 1500. Of the 416 moai erected in that area, 20% have suffered some damage as a result of the fire, according to preliminary figures released on Friday by the mayor of Easter Island, Pedro Edmunds, at a breakfast with journalists in Santiago.

Some moai are “totally charred.” The effects of the fire on the rest is still unknown, but the flames will have sped up the process of stone turning into sand. “A lot of them look good on the outside, but the crack is on the inside,” explained Edmunds. The fire occurred in a particularly sensitive protected area of the tiny island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, part of the Chilean region of Valparaíso, located 3,600 kilometers away. In the quarry of the mysterious statues, some unfinished ones are still visible, embedded in the volcanic stone, such as the Te Tokanga, which is 22 meters long and weighs about 200 tons.

“The burning of the moai is death in life. The moai are our ancestors, not the monument in Plaza Baquedano. It is the image, the soul of the Rapa Nui people. That these monuments exist gives a lesson in humanity, in the sense of the scientific, practical, logistical and mystical planning, and in the sense of the deities,” said the mayor, who has served five non-consecutive terms since 1994.

After previous fires, which affected some moai, Japanese and Chilean scientists from the National Monuments Council applied chemical solutions to the stone to provide a layer of protection. Before deciding what actions to take, they must assess the damage in conjunction with UNESCO, which declared the island a World Heritage Site in 1986.

Edmunds attributed the origin of the flames to a burning of pastures “that some horse and cow farmers do on the island.” The Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, announced on Friday that the cause of the fire will be investigated and that Conaf will have a permanent forestry brigade on Easter Island throughout the year.

A fire on Chile’s Easter Island has caused irreparable damage to its iconic ‘Moai’ stone statues. The blaze swept through Rapa Nui National Park earlier this week, causing several stones to crack, Mayor Pedro Edmunds told @Reuters https://t.co/nbEgkBeC2c pic.twitter.com/6qfYsnqdTp

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 8, 2022

The minister also asked the mayor to take “co-responsibility.” “It is important to understand that autonomy is not self-isolation. [The authorities must assume] technical supervision work with Conaf, and also take responsibility, since there have been seizures of illegal land here, including areas of the national park,” Valenzuela said.

Ninoska Huki, provincial head of Conaf on Easter Island, explained to Chile’s La Tercera news outlet that the corporation “hires brigades during forest fire seasons, and that begins in the second half of October until April,” so the brigade was not active. Chile, moreover, is one of the few countries in the world where firefighters work on a voluntary basis. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to get new young people to join the corps. From July 1, 2020, to April 21 of this year, 60 forest or vegetation fires occurred on the island, 13% less than in the same period of the previous year.

During his visit to Santiago, shortly after the island reopened to tourism after almost two and a half years of closure due to the pandemic, the mayor met with Chilean President Gabriel Boric and some of his ministers to request a budget readjustment for Easter Island. As Rapa Nui generates most of its income via tourism, the isolation left the community “bankrupt,” according to the municipality. Of the 800 park rangers hired to prevent fires, clean up and prevent tourists from damaging the statues in the 16,000-hectare park, there are now only 120. The island now receives only three flights weekly, for a total of 750 passengers, compared to the 14 flights of 8,000 total passengers that arrived before the lockdown. “Who is going to come to help put out fires if you don’t pay them? It’s that simple,” said the mayor, who was not granted the requested budget readjustment.

Source: El País