A devastating wildfire earlier this week caused “unfathomable” damage to a number of Easter Island’s famous stone heads.
“It cannot be quantified or measured, and the damage there is irreparable,” said Pedro Edmonds, mayor of Easter Island, a Chilean territory 2,000 miles from the coast. for the heat will heat the rock, and it will crack.โ
Scientists will visit the island to assess the extent of the damage and determine what can be done to restore or rescue the fire-damaged statues, but Edmunds said there may be no “solution.” I got
Edmonds also blamed the lack of support from the Chilean government for the damage, saying the country remained “absent” and could have helped with plans to “prevent these problems.” rice field.
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At this time, the cause of the fire remains unknown, and Edmunds said there is an investigation into both the cause of the fire and the total damage.
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Preliminary reports said the fire began Tuesday and burned more than 148 acres, including the Rano Raraku volcano crater where several statues reside.
“For us, it’s very painful to see how the moai burned,” said Francisco Haoa, a representative of the Rapa Nui people, who said the statue was already facing slow damage from the weather. It added that the fire was “accelerating the damage.”
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The island, home to about 7,750 inhabitants, closed to visitors during the coronavirus pandemic and reopened to visitors in August of this year.
Mysterious ‘Moai’ statues on Easter Island draw tourists to the island, amplifying the stone’s loss. There are over 1,000 statues of him on the island, weighing several tons.
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This year, the island won a long-running battle to reclaim one of its statues that was moved to its capital, Santiago, in the 19th century, showing just how valuable the statues are to locals. The government is currently negotiating with other institutions, such as the British Museum, to retrieve other works.
Reuters contributed to this report.