Was infrasonic weapon used on Synagogue building?
On September 12, 2014, a six-storey building suddenly collapsed on the premises of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) located in Ikotun in Lagos State, south west Nigeria. Many casualties were recorded, mostly visiting South Africans who came to worship at the church.
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The death toll was so high that the South African government got involved, vis-a-vis the investigations as to why the building collapsed.
Reasons for the explosion
Various reasons have been postulated for the collapse of the building. This has also led to the Lagos State government setting up a judicial investigating panel to find out the true cause of the collapse. Both the church and the Lagos State government have put forward different reasons for the collapse of the building.
The Lagos State government said the reason for the collapse was poor construction standards used by the church’s engineers, and the church has attributed the collapse to a terrorist attack with explosives and a controlled demolition.
Having looked at all the reasons and visited the scene of the collapse, and analysed the video footage of the preceding moments before the collapse of the structure, one can deduce that the collapse resulted from a high energy infra-sound absorption by the building leading to a high energy resonance of the constituent atoms of the building.
This is even more accurate based on the fact that all other options being put forward were eliminated scientifically, creating what appears to be a mystery due to limited knowledge surrounding the collapse of the building.
Structural failure
The structural failure option cannot hold scientifically because upon the inspection of the building, it was observed that the foundation columns were still intact, with no stress or cracks on the steel and concrete pillars protruding from the earth. This was also confirmed by the laboratory tests done by the Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory.
The CCTV footage showed a collapse that is not consistent with other known buildings that have collapsed as a result of structural failure. The controlled demolition/placement of explosives theory cannot also hold because when the word controlled demolition is used, it elicits a set of known protocols which cannot be executed clandestinely.
Analysis of the video footage indicated the absence of any chemical explosives, due to the absence of a thermal shock wave and its attendant sudden rise in temperature. There was an absence of carbonation from expected combustion and burning of the structure and surrounding buildings and tents.
Consequently, I am 100 per cent certain that samples taken from the debris for chemical explosives residue analysis will return NEGATIVE.
lnfrasound
Infra sound, sometimes referred to as low-frequency sound, is lower in frequency than 20 Hertz or cycles per second. Hearing becomes gradually less sensitive as frequency decreases, so for humans to perceive infra-sound, the sound pressure must be sufficiently high.
The ear is the primary organ for sensing infra-sound, but at higher intensities it is possible to feel infra-sound vibrations in various parts of the body. The study of such sound waves is referred to as INFRASONIC, covering sounds beneath 20 Hz down to 0.001 Hz.
This frequency range is utilised for monitoring earthquakes, charting rock and petroleum formations below the earth and studying the mechanics of the heart.
In military application, infrasound is exploited for its weapon capabilities and was used by the allies of World War I to locate artillery. They include highly directional devices which can transmit painful, audible sound into an individual’s ear at great distances and infrasonic generators which can shoot acoustic projectiles hundreds of metres, causing a blunt impact upon a target.
Infra-sound as a powerful ultra low frequency weapon could be directional and tenable, penetrating buildings and vehicles. High intensity infra-sound could induce disorientation and reduced sensory motor functions. The highest levels can cause a person’s bones to resonate, which can be quite painful.
Resonance
To understand how sound can become a deadly weapon of destruction, a review of the resonance principle was looked at. All of the chemical reactions in the cells of living organisms or in non-living materials at the atomic level are caused by the electromagnetic oscillations, pulsations and vibrations, which are collectively referred to as vibrational frequencies.
Once resonance has been achieved, an energy exchange takes place on the surface of the membrane of each cell or atom. If the source of energy is more powerful, it directly impacts the targeted material, resulting in a biological reaction or in this case a physical one.
Resonance can be induced electromagnetically by an infrasonic pulse generator, which can establish a link, for instance, to a building such as the SCOAN’s that collapsed
Once this connection occurs, the power level of the generator can be increased, which will automatically transfer the energy to the building. If the power or intensity level is high or very high, the building can suffer a crumbling collapse.
Conclusion
As it is, it can be concluded scientifically that there was no explosives in the building when it collapsed upon the post blast analysis done. It can also be true to safely say the said building didn’t come down as a result of structural failure, because its collapse was not consistent with known cases of building collapsing structurally, coupled with the fact that the foundational pillars showed no sign of stress so far.
So, what caused the building to collapse? It’s been known that sonic and infrasonic weapons exist. It’s also known in the weapons research community that certain nations had taken it to the next level.
How high that level is I do not know, but certainly science tells us that infrasound weaponised with high enough intensity can cause vibrations to structures at the atomic level, causing the kind of destruction we saw on the SCOAN premises.
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This article was last published in the International Journal of Scientific Research
Paul Biedomo Iguniwei is a lecturer at the Kaduna Polytechnic College of Science and Technology, Applied Science Department.
He is also an MSc Student of Material Science and Explosives at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Post-Graduate School. Kaduna, Nigeria.