[Bell Historians] Christchurch Cathedral and St. Paul's, Papanui; Canterbury New Zealand

[Alan Ellis]

Hello Richard,

To hear that the bells rang themselves down confirms the stories of 
bells ringing in an earthquake.   Ours at Holy Rosary Cathedral  here in 
Vancouver would do the same, as we leave them up.  Vancouver is also 
located in an earthquake zone and we know that the BIG ONE is coming.

I'd be interested in learning whether all bells rang themselves down or 
whether only those in a certain direction.  That is all the east-west 
bells and not the north-south bells, or vice versa.   As ours all swing 
in an east-west direction, an earthquake with forces north-south may not 
cause the bells to ring down.

IMHO the bells at Papanui should be fine as the  tower is a steel frame 
and not masonry.  Unless it was shaken off its foundations, it ought not 
to have received any damage in the shaking.

Best wishes

Alan






Richard Offen wrote:

>  
>
> The following has just been posted on 'Look To', the ANZAB group, from 
> Chris Oldham in Christchurch:
>
>  
>
> Cathedral bells rang themselves down  I don't think any damage.  We'll 
> inspect  during the week.  Tower is closed until structural engineer 
> has had a good look, so no ringing there until further notice.  I 
> haven't heard anything from Papanui.
>
>  
>
> Cheers
>
>  
>
> Chris
>
>  
>
> Richard
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
> [mailto:bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of 
> s.pilkington at DYMkOPvFnmeHL_11OVKCD-hygLK0J6XLBaWcbhPRhTcpVW-nv1neGFA4zUSnmbnpKlSmHWa9gwsDYBy5Nc8AxI8.yahoo.invalid
> Sent: Saturday, 4 September 2010 12:28 PM
> To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Bell Historians] Christchurch Cathedral and St. Paul's, 
> Papanui; Canterbury New Zealand
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Hi everyone,
>
>  
>
> I'm sure by now most people have heard about the 7.1 richter scale 
> earthquake that hit Canterbury, NZ this morning. Photographs taken so 
> far indicate that parts of the city, particularly the CBD have been 
> flattened and other parts significantly damaged. No loss of life, but 
> water, sewerage and power are suspected damaged, and a storm is 
> expected to blow in tonight. I am sure our thoughts are with the 
> people of Canterbury at the moment.
>
>  
>
> I was wondering if anyone has heard whether Christchurch Cathedral and 
> St. Paul's, Papanui are intact and ok?
>
>  
>
> A church just outside of Christchurch apparently had its steeple 
> shifted by 10 cm along the roofline and a crane will come on Monday to 
> lift it back into place. If something like that happened to the 
> churches with rings in them, it could topple, and it does raise the 
> question of whether it will be safe to ring tomorrow morning or not.
>
>  
>
> Any thought or comments?
>
>  
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Scott Pilkington
>
> 

           
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ringingworld.co.uk/pipermail/bell-historians/attachments/20100904/77b6097c/attachment.html>