Paris, 26.11. Unesco will allocate more than $96,000 to assess the damage caused by the fire that ravaged Rapa Nui National Park on Chile’s Easter Island on October 4 and draw up a plan with measures to limit its impact and prevent future disasters.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that a detailed assessment of the damage caused by the fire is being carried out in support of the Ma’u Henua indigenous community who manage the Rapa Nui complex. listed as a World Heritage Site since 1995, according to a statement released this Saturday.
It is implemented by the Cultural Sector of the UNESCO Office in Chile and will take place between December 2022 and November 2023.
According to the organization, their work plan seeks “better coordination between the community and the various actors involved”.
A second phase defines measures and protocols for emergency preparedness and response “to better protect and promote this place”.
This project is the result of the planning that began thanks to a mission carried out by the Unesco office on the island from October 17 to 21, “in coordination with the community of Ma’u Henua”, the community of Rapa Nui and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage of Chile.
The director of this office in Chile, Claudia Uribe, specified that their collaboration will focus on making a diagnosis of the impact of the fire on cultural heritage and will try to develop with the municipality “a comprehensive site management plan with a strong prevention component”.
The director of the indigenous community, Nancy Rivera, stressed the importance of this project for the Ma’u Henua, first because it “refreshes” the relationship with Unesco, but also because its resources “will strengthen the diagnosis that we are already making”. .
Rivera added that the councils will help them “take action to mitigate the damage done to our moais and other archaeological remains.”
The fire spread through the crater, quarry and surrounding area of Rano Raraku volcano over an area of approximately 240 hectares.
The fire damaged natural areas and destroyed archaeological structures, including 177 moai (according to an initial report by Chile’s National Forestry Corporation, CONAF), large stone monuments built by a Polynesian-origin society established from the 10th to the 16th centuries. Sanctuaries and statues that are part of a valuable cultural heritage. EFE
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