Mota Lava or Motalava (coordinates 13°42′S 167°39′E / 13.7°S 167.65°E / -13.7; 167.65) is the fourth largest island in the Banks Islands of Vanuatu, after Gaua, Vanua Lava and Ureparapara, with an area of 24 km2 (9.3 sq mi). It is the largest and highest (411 m/1,348 ft) of the eastern chain of islands. 270 meters (886 ft) off its southern coast, attached by high corals that one can wade through at low tide, is the islet of Ra, with an area of 0.5 km2 (0.19 sq mi).
The 2009 census figures give a population of 1640 inhabitants (Mota Lava + Ra), yielding a population density of 67 per km².
There is an airport on the island (IATA code: MTV).
Read more about Mota Lava: Name and Language, Geology
Famous quotes containing the word lava:
“We walk on molten lava on which the claw of a fly or the fall of a hair makes its impression, which being received, the mass hardens to flint and retains every impression forevermore.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)