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Remote Easter Island braces for total solar eclipse
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Remote Easter Island braces for total solar eclipse
AFP - Sunday, July 11
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Remote Easter Island braces for total solar eclipse
HANGA ROA, Chile (AFP) - – Remote and mysterious Easter Island saw an influx of tourists and scientists ahead of Sunday's solar eclipse, a mixed blessing of sorts for the tiny Pacific territory.
An estimated 4,000 tourists, scientists, photographers, filmmakers and journalists flocked to the Chilean island of only 160 square kilometers (60 square miles) on Saturday, doubling the population of the barren isle that already suffers from water pollution and deforestation.
Conditions are anything but normal on Easter Island, deemed by astronomers as the best place to witness Sunday's alignment of sun, moon and Earth for a fleeting four minutes and 41 seconds.
Some weather forecasts, however, warn of cloudy skies -- potentially dashing hopes of a clear view here of the total solar eclipse that will begin in French Polynesia before the moon's umbra, or shadow, cloaks Easter Island and its mysterious giant statues.
Parts of the globe will be plunged into daytime darkness along a narrow corridor some 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) long across the South Pacific.
Easter Island Governor Pedro Edmunds Paoa told AFP the island "has the capacity to absorb this number of tourists," similar to the influx in the austral summer in January.
But authorities have increased security, especially around key heritage sites, including the 3,000-year-old large stone statues, or moai, that put Easter Island on the map.
In the original islanders' ancient lore, such an eclipse "would have been seen as a very powerful signal of upcoming upheaval," as their worldview was rooted in the natural world, in "the earth, the sea and especially the sky," said Patricia Vargas of the University of Chile.
But the island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inhabited by mostly ethnic Polynesians, was strained even before the eclipse by a growing number of visitors who choose to stay indefinitely and a sharp increase in the non-aboriginal population.
The Chilean government last year proposed a law to establish immigration controls on Easter Island and limit the number of tourists in an effort to protect the local population and the fragile ecosystem.
The huge earthquake and tsunami that struck mainland Chile on February 27 forced the navy to partially evacuate the island over fears of damage from tides and currents.
In the months since, local authorities have scrambled to inform the global tourism industry that the territory was largely unscathed.
"We want to show the world that despite the earthquake, we are still in the tourist circuit," said Mayor Luz del Carmen Zasso.
On the streets of the capital Hanga Roa, craft fairs abounded, and merchants were selling native craft items and eclipse souvenirs.
Zasso explained that local officials have taken "all measures to protect the heritage and the environment."
She said visitors will be told to treat the island with respect. "Easter Island is an open-air museum, and the eclipse is part of this museum," she added.
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