Moturiki is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

belonging to

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Lomaiviti Archipelago The Lomaiviti (pronounced ) archipelago of Fiji consists of seven main islands and a number of smaller ones. They cover a total area of , and had a population of 15,657 at the most recent census in 2017. The largest town, with a population of 1, ...

. Covering an area of 10.4 square kilometers, it is situated at 17.45° South and 178.44° East. In the proto-polynesian language, 'Motu' means 'island' and Riki' means 'small' hence the islands name is directly translated as "Small Island". The island is inhabited by about 2000 Fijians living in 10 villages: Daku, Naicabecabe, Nasauvuki, Nasesara, Navuti, Niubasaga, Savuna, Uluibau, Yanuca and Wawa. Moturiki is of great archaeological interest. Important discoveries include the earliest

Lapita The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian people and their material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. They are believed to have originated from the northern Philipp ...

sites of Fiji as well as the oldest human skeleton found in Fiji (dating about 3000 years). The villages on Moturiki have faced on-going disease outbreaks, including

Typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

, primarily due to the lack of safe drinking water. At points, this has required the large-scale delivery of clean water by boat and then manually distributed by vehicles and carts.

References

External links

Fiji Museum article about Moturiki
Islands of Fiji Lomaiviti Province {{Fiji-geo-stub