Mary Statue focus. Barbadoes St: My quake pics were used by blog readers to solve various problems. Example: 03.10.17. A reader's email request for a high resolution photo of Mary statue which moved 180 degrees during the collapse of Christchurch Basilica's north tower, 22 February 2011 Quake:
"I have been scouring the 'net for a photo of the Catholic Cathedral taken between 2010 and 2011 quakes to put to rest a 'discussion' about whether the statue of Mary in the upper window of the north Tower actually did a one-eighty during the Feb 22nd quake. On your blog you have a photo of the Cathedral but its not high enough resolution to be sure the statue is facing inwards. If it is we expect to see the white veil at the top and the blue cloak down from there. If facing out, it will be predominantly white.
[My pic was a north angle shot of Christchurch Basilica, Barbadoes St, taken on 15.09.10 post 4 September 2010 Quake, the first of 15 000 quakes which shook Christchurch over three years. If the emailer clicked on the pic he would've seen the white inward facing veil & blue cloak underneath. No high-resolution pic was needed. If he'd searched my blog further, he would've found the Mary statue pics I took during March 2011, post 22 February 2011 Quake which showed the outward facing Mary statue. See blog post link below].
I would love to see a high res copy of this - I'm certainly not wanting to prove a miracle or anything, but the truth is important to me. So either it is a remarkable seismic phenomenon or maybe someone went into the Cathedral even though it was closed to the public and turned the statue - admittedly unlikely. [Agreed. There was tons of collapsed rubble on the roof of the N tower office housing Mary statue].
But as you can imagine, dated photographic evidence is what speaks to me as a scientist... A photo from early February 2011 would be the absolute clincher..." [My clicked on 15.09.10 blog photo IS the clincher!]
See Wednesday 15.09.10. Day 12 after Christchurch Quake, Dallington.
See Now You Know, Red Zone
See Ferry Road Demolition & RC Cathedral.
My email reply:
"I took and blogged 20 600 quake pics before / as soon as citizens were allowed into Christchurch's ruined CBD. My pics are not as high- resolution as you want / need, as I used three cheap digital-cameras (1 Nikon, 2 Samsungs) during my trekking over three years in Christchurch & surrounding towns, 2010-13 incl.
It was impossible to trek Christchurch's ruined CBD for at least 28 months post 22 February 2011 Quake, as there was a military State-of-Emergency, then a CBD military-cordon with numerous cordoned / arbitrarily changed checkpoints into the CBD where ruined Christchurch Basilica was / is.
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Unauthorised entry into the cordoned red-zone-CBD invited arrest by cops or NZDF-soldiers. Post-quakes, only CERA officials & cops & military & a few Council & NZ government personnel & vetted media & contractors were allowed into Christchurch's red-zone-CBD where Christchurch Basilica was / is. Sometimes building owners were allowed military / cop-escorted entry to their ruined buildings in the red-zone-CBD to retrieve belongings. Over many months, CERA opened parts of the CBD to citizens when it was perceived safe after many demolitions.
Should you want high-resolution pics of Mary spin, I suggest you research The Press / Stuff Co articles. I remember one article which had pics of Mary spin, maybe higher-resolution than mine. I saw & photographed many heavy objects twisted & spun on their vertical-axes by quakes, like houses, stone-gateposts, war-memorial-obelisks & granite-grave-obelisks. Check out my two Selwyn St Cemetery blog-posts showing grave-obelisks toppled or spun on their vertical-axes by quakes. Much heavier than the Mary statue.
See Selwyn St Ghosts, 5 Months Post Quake
Many bridge horizontal concrete-spans were rotated on their horizontal-axes, 1 000s of tons weightier than the Mary statue. Check out my Bridge St Bridge post, Avon Estuary.
See Ten Avon River Bridges, Spans & Quakes.
I trust this resolves your skepticism. I was 82kg mass during early quakes & I was spun & twisted often while trying to walk / run to safety during quakes.
BTW, the Mary statue faced inwards in Christchurch Basilica tower's office window pre-quakes, but faced outwards towards Barbadoes St post 22 February 2011 Quake, a 180 degree spin of the statue on its pedestal caused by the quake. No miracle, just physical forces. Check out EQC's GeoNet website if you want details of seismic-scales, vertical-accelerations, etc during quakes.
See GeoNet.
Coda:
Battling bishops: December 2019. Bishop Martin would announce a new Christchurch Basilica to be built, Armagh St / Colombo St, together with a new school, offices, priests' accommodation, community hub, multi-storey carpark. Hopefully completed by 2025. That idea fizzled, 2024, when the next bishop decided that the new Christchurch Basilica would be built on Barbadoes St original site.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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