The fire in the Rapa Nui National Park, on Easter Island, devastated 100 hectares and damaged ‘irreparably’ around 80 moai (Iconic stone statues of the island), according to the authorities.
In the Rapa Nui National Park there are a total of 416 moai statues in different stages of manufacture, of which 80 of them (19%) were affected by the fire.
The intentional fires in Rapa Nui, Easter Island, the world’s super site museum, do not stop. This was the last one, at the top of the great quarry from where the moai 🗿 of the island came out, the rano Raraku, started on Monday. A worrying scenario. Even when? pic.twitter.com/sR4WWuo3nD
— Patricia Stambuk (@PatriciaStambuk) October 5, 2022
Due to the geography, the firefighters’ machinery could not access the place where the fire originated last Monday, which could not be extinguished until Friday.
Thus, the flames, fire and smoke caused the statues to be damaged, as explained by the mayor of the island, Pedro Edmunds.
The fire was extinguished, however, it left irreparable damage to the cultural heritage of humanity
One of them was completely burned and “its damage is irreparable,” Edmunds said.
“It was possible to extinguish (…) the fire in the quarry of the Rano Raraku volcano, however, causing irreparable damage to the cultural heritage of humanity,” President Gabriel Boric said Friday.
The authorities handle the hypothesis that the fire had an intentional origin.
“This burning was produced by the cattle producers for the grasslands. Everything indicates that,” said the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela.
Likewise, the Mayor warned the government about the lack of park rangers due to budget cuts, as well as described the situation as an “abandonment of the island” by the national administration.
The fire happened two months after the island reopened to tourism after two and a half years closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the pandemic, Easter Island received 160,000 visitors a year. But, with the arrival of covid-19, tourist activity was completely suspended.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING*
*With information from AFP.
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