Fire damages Easter Island statues [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Some of the 800 moais on Chile’s Easter Island (Alamy/PA)

SAT, 08 OCT, 2022 - 19:49
ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTERS

A fire that ripped through part of Chile’s Easter Island has caused permanent damage to some of its iconic carved stone figures known as moai.

The high temperature of the forest fire accelerated the process through which the stone carvings will eventually turn into sand, the mayor of the island locally known as Rapa Nui said. The damage is “irreparable and immeasurable as well,” Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa said.

The Chilean island which lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean has some 800 moais, half of which are inside the Rano Raraku volcano.

. . .

The fire this week blazed through 104 acres and particularly affected an area inside the volcano where there are around 100 moais, around 20 percent of which have been damaged, Edmunds Paoa said. There are also some damaged structures outside the volcano.

The high temperatures calcinate the stone of the moais, which leads it to “crack” and with time “it starts to collapse,” the mayor told a local radio station.

More:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40979297.html

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In pictures: Easter Island statues damaged by fire

Published
1 day ago



Statues damaged by fireIMAGE SOURCE,RAPA NUI MUNICIPALITY

Mayor of Easter Island Pedro Edmunds told local media: "The damage caused by the fire can't be undone"

By Nathan Williams
BBC News

A fire has damaged the enigmatic statues on Easter Island, with some of the charring said to be irreparable.

An unknown number of the stone-carved statues have been affected by the blaze, Chile's cultural heritage undersecretary said.

Easter Island has nearly 1,000 of the megaliths, known as moai. They have oversized heads and generally stand about 4m (13ft) high. They were carved by a Polynesian tribe more than 500 years ago.

The fire, which broke out on Monday, affected nearly 60 hectares (148 acres), cultural heritage official Carolina Perez Dattari tweeted.

It is reported to have been started deliberately, and is centred around Easter Island's Rano Raraku volcano - which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.







More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63167941