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SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Several iconic “Moai” stone statues on Easter Island suffered irreparable damage after a wildfire swept through the island this week, the island’s mayor told Reuters on Friday.
“It is unquantifiable, immeasurable, the damage that exists, it is irrecoverable,” said Pedro Edmunds, mayor of Easter Island, a territory of Chile. “Because what the chimney does is heat the rock and the rock cracks. “
He said scientists would stop on the island along with park directors to assess the extent of the damage and what could be done.
“I don’t know if there’s a solution to that,” Edmunds said.
An initial report released by Chile’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage said a wildfire that started Tuesday razed more than 60 hectares (148. 26 acres) and shattered an unknown number of sacred statues of Moai.
The report cited the cause of the wildfire and said there would be additional investigations into the fire and the damage it caused.
The Rano Raraku volcanic crater, which is located in the Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and where several statues are located, was badly broken by fire.
“For us it is very painful to see how the Moai were burned,” said Francisco Haoa, representative of the Rapa Nui people, adding that the statues are already slowly under rain, sun and wind.
“And the chimney rushes the pain in the Moais. “
Easter Island, more than 3,219 kilometers (2,000 miles) off the Chilean coast, reopened to tourists on Aug. 1 after closing its borders for more than two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Carolina Perez, undersecretary of Chile’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, said on Twitter that the government was handing over its money to the mayor, but Edmunds blamed the lack of government for the damage.
“The solution is in the hands of an absentee state, which has been absent and is still absent,” Edmunds said. “And they don’t need to pay attention to the island that’s designed to save them those problems. “
(Reporting via Rodrigo Gutierrez, Natalia Ramos, and Alexander Villegas; editing via Diane Craft)