Overpopulation

Overpopulation is one of the most serious threats to mankind. It's high time we identify and understand the causes of overpopulation and take steps to avoid it.

By definition, overpopulation is the condition where the number of organisms exceeds the carrying capacity of their habitat. We are facing the effects of overpopulation in our daily lives. Overpopulation has impacted the life of common man and has proved to be one of the gravest difficulties that have to be fought. Overpopulation implies scarcity of resources and economic inflation; these are the monsters which can make life miserable. Living through the negative effects of overpopulation have made us realize serious problems associated with it. It is high time we wake up and find the causes of overpopulation and work on them.

Causes of Overpopulation

Decline in the Death Rate: The fall in death rates that is decline in mortality rate is one fundamental causes of overpopulation. Owing to the advancements in medicine, man has found cures to the previously fatal diseases. The new inventions in medicine have brought in treatments for most of the dreadful diseases. This has resulted in an increase in the life expectancy of individuals. Mortality rate has declined leading to an increase in population.
Owing to modern medications and improved treatments to various illnesses, the overall death rate has gone down. The brighter side of it is that we have been able to fight many diseases and prevent deaths. On the other hand, the medical boon has brought with it, the curse of overpopulation.



Rise in the Birth Rate: Thanks to the new discoveries in nutritional science, we have been able to bring in increase in the fertility rates of human beings. Medicines of today can boost the reproductive rate in human beings. There are medicines and treatments, which can help in conception. Thus, science has led to an increase in birth rate. This is certainly a reason to be proud and happy but advances in medicine have also become a cause of overpopulation.



Migration: Immigration is a problem in some parts of the world. If the inhabitants of various countries migrate to a particular part of the world and settle over there, the area is bound to suffer from the ill effects of overpopulation. If the rates of emigration from a certain nation do not match the rates of immigration to that country, overpopulation makes its way. The country becomes overly populated. Crowding of immigrants in certain parts of the world,
results in an imbalance in the density of population.



Lack of Education: Illiteracy is another important cause of overpopulation. Those lacking education fail to understand the need to prevent excessive growth of population. They are unable to understand the harmful effects that overpopulation has. They are unaware of the ways to control population. Lack of family planning is commonly seen in the illiterate lot of the world. This is one of the major factors leading to overpopulation. Due to ignorance, they do not take to family planning measures, thus contributing to a rise in population.

Effects of Overpopulation:
Water and Air Pollution

• Water Pollution

America’s Troubled Waters, a report by US Public Interest Research Groups (U.S. PRIG), cites the following statistics regarding the state of America’s waterways:

•  Approximately 39% of our rivers, 46% of our lakes, and 51% of our estuaries are still too polluted for

safe fishing or swimming.

•  Pollution caused nearly 20,000 beach closings in 2004, the highest level in 15 years.

•  In 2004, 31 states had statewide fish consumption advisories in place because of toxic pollution.

The EPA’s Wade able Streams Assessment finds that 42% of all U.S. stream miles are in poor condition. More than half of those found in the eastern portion of the U.S. and 40% of those in the central region are considered
to be in poor condition.

• According to American Rivers and the website healthy rivers.org: Eighty percent of streams contain insecticides, drugs, or other chemicals.

•  During 2002 and 2003, in just Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri, pollution in rivers and streams

• killed 3.5 million fish. The number of miles of rivers containing fish that may be harmful to your health due to pollution,

• increased from 2% to 14% from 1993 to 2001.Waterborne germs and parasites cause an estimated 7.1 million mild-to-moderate cases of infectious

• disease in the U.S. annually. Every year more than 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage, storm water and industrial waste are

• discharged into U.S. waters. The EPA warns that sewage levels in our rivers could be back to 1970s levels by the year 2016.

• Air Pollution

The Environmental Defense Fund reports that 80% of the cancer risks from air pollutants nationwide is from mobile transportation sources. As our cities and suburbs continue to grow at record pace, pollution emitted by
commuters will only grow worse.About 70 percent of the heavy construction equipment used in California in 2005 was old enough not to have to
face any emission control regulations, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

According to the air pollution program of Clear the Air, a collective of grassroots and environmental organizations dedicated to combating global warming:
 Electricity generation is our nation’s largest source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

• The Clean Air Act and other environmental measures have not succeeded in lowering power plant pollution.

•  … EPA and other studies have shown that far greater reductions are needed to meaningfully reduce the public health and environmental damage caused by SO2 emissions from power plants.

•  Fine particle pollution results in the premature deaths of more than 45,000 people in the U.S. each year.

Plagued by Pollution, a report by US PRIG, cites the following statistics regarding the state of America’s air:

•  While our air quality has improved in the U.S. since the inception of the Clean Air Act of 1970, more than 88 million Americans still live in areas with unsafe levels of fine particle pollution.

•  In 2004, fine particle pollution exceeded the annual and/or daily national health standard at air quality monitors in 55 small, mid-sized, and large metropolitan areas located in 21 states and home to 96 million people.

Carrying capacity

There is wide variability both in the definition and in the proposed size of the Earth's carrying capacity, with estimates ranging from less than 1 to 1000 billion humans (1 trillion). A 2001 UN report said that two-thirds of the estimates fall in the range of 4 billion to 16 billion (with unspecified standard errors), with a median of about 10 billion. More recent estimates are much lower, particularly if resource depletion and increased world affluence are considered.



In a study titled Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy, David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, and Mario Giampietro, senior researcher at the US National Research Institute on Food and Nutrition  (INRAN), estimate the maximum U.S population for a sustainable economy at 200 million. And in order to achieve a sustainable economy and avert disaster, the United States would have to reduce its population by at least one-third, and world population would have to be reduced by two-thirds.

Some groups (for example, the World Wide Fund for Nature and Global Footprint Network ) have stated that the carrying capacity for the human population has been exceeded as measured using the Ecological Footprint. In 2006, WWF's"Living Planet Report" stated that in order for all humans to live with the current consumption patterns of Europeans, we would be spending three times more than what the planet can renew. Humanity as a whole was using, by 2006, 40 percent more than what Earth can regenerate.

But critics question the simplifications and statistical methods used in calculating Ecological Footprints. Therefore Global Footprint Network and its partner organizations have engaged with national governments and international agencies to test the results – reviews have been produced by France, Germany, the European Commission, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. Some point out that a more refined method of assessing Ecological Footprint is to designate sustainable versus non-sustainable categories of consumption.However, if yield estimates were adjusted for sustainable levels of production, the yield figures would be lower, and hence the overshot estimated by the Ecological Footprint method even higher.

Eutrophication

 

 

Introduction

Eutrophication is the process of excessive nutrient enrichment of waters that
typically results in problems associated with macrophyte, algal or cyanobacterial
growth.

While an enormous amount of literature has been published on this topic, a detailed
treatment is outside the scope of this report. A recent local review [Walmsley, 2000]
provides important perspectives on eutrophication of surface waters with particular
emphasis on policy and research needs in South Africa. It contains a very useful list of
references which can be consulted for more detailed information.

The causes and effects of eutrophication are complex. This chapter only summarises
briefly the current state of knowledge. Internationally, much research work is in
progress that aims at furthering our knowledge of the intricate interrelationships involved
in eutrophication of water resources. A paper by Rast and Thornton (1996) can be
consulted for more information on research trends.

Causes

 

In natural lakes a distinction is sometimes made between ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’
(anthropogenic) eutrophication processes (e.g. Rast and Thornton (1996)). Natural
eutrophication depends only on the local geology and natural features of the catchment.

Cultural eutrophication is associated with human activities which accelerate the
eutrophication process beyond the rate associated with the natural process (e.g. by
increasing nutrient loads into aquatic ecosystems). In South Africa where impoundments
are man-made, the conceptual difference between ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’ seems less
appropriate.

Increased nutrient enrichment can arise from both point and non-point sources external
to the impoundment as well as internal sources like the impoundment’s own sediments
(that can release phosphate).

The adjacent figure illustrates some of the factors that drive the eutrophication process
in an impoundment.

Trophic status

Eutrophication is a process and it is useful to be able to characterise the stage at which
this process is at any given time in a particular water body. The ‘trophic status’ of the
water body is used as a description of the water body for this purpose. The following
terms are used.



Oligotrophic - low in nutrients and not productive in terms of aquatic animal and plant
life.

Mesotrophic - intermediate levels of nutrients, fairly productive in terms of aquatic
animal and plant life and showing emerging signs of water quality problems.

Eutrophic - rich in nutrients, very productive in terms of aquatic animal and plant life
and showing increasing signs of water quality problems.

Hypertrophic - very high nutrient concentrations where plant growth is determined by
physical factors. Water quality problems are serious and almost continuous.
It is convenient to associate the trophic status in impoundments with total phosphorus
and chlorophyll a measurements. The following relationships between trophic status
and these variables are used. These are essentially those of Van Ginkel et al. (2000),
which were based on the work of Walmsley and Butty (1980) and Walmsley (1984).
These have been shown to be applicable to South African impoundments.

Impacts

Eutrophication is a concern because it has numerous negative impacts. The higher the
nutrient loading in an ecosystem the greater the potential ecological impacts. Increased
productivity in an aquatic system can sometimes be beneficial. Fish and other desirable
species may grow faster, providing a potential food source for humans and other
animals (though this is not a common situation in South Africa). However, detrimental
ecological impacts can in turn have other adverse impacts which vary from aesthetic
and recreational to human health and economic impacts. This is summarised in the
following figure.

• Ecological impacts

Macrophyte invasions and algal and cyanobacterial (blue-green) blooms are themselves
direct impacts on an ecosystem. However, their presence causes a number of other
ecological impacts.

Of critical concern is the impact of eutrophication on biodiversity. Macrophyte invasions
impede or prevent the growth of other aquatic plants. Similarly, algal and cyanobacterial
blooms consist of species that have out-competed other species for the available
nutrients and light.

Their impact on animal biodiversity is also of concern. By generally lowering the
ecological integrity of an ecosystem, only the more tolerant animal species can survive.

• Aesthetic impacts

Algal and cyanobacterial blooms, and particularly surface scums that might form, are
unsightly and can have unpleasant odours. This is often a problem in urban
impoundments where people live close to the affected water body.

If the water is being used for water treatment purposes, various taste and odour
problems can occur. These lower the perceived quality of the treated water, although
do not cause human health problems.

• Human health impacts

An infestation of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) can be a health hazard. It can
provide an ideal breeding habitat for mosquito larvae and it can protect the snail vector
of bilharzia.

Of all the cyanotoxins currently known, the cyclic peptides represent the greatest
concern to human health, although this may be because so little is known about the
other cyanotoxins [Chorus and Bartram, 1999]. The concern exists primarily because
of the potential risk of long term exposure to comparatively low concentrations of the
toxins in drinking water supplies. Acute exposure to high doses may cause death from
liver haemorrhage or liver failure. Other short term effects on humans include
gastrointestinal and hepatic illnesses. A number of adverse consequences have been
documented for swimmers exposed to cyanobacterial blooms. Chronic exposure to low
doses may promote the growth of liver and other tumours. Nevertheless, many
cyanobacterial blooms are apparently not hazardous to animals.

It is also possible that people exposed to odours from waterways contaminated with
decaying algae of cyanobacteria may suffer chronic ill-health effects.


Economic impacts

Nearly all of the above mentioned impacts have direct or indirect economic impacts.
Algal or cyanobacterial scums increase the costs of water treatment in order to avoid
taste, odour and cyanotoxin problems in the treated water. Excessive blooms can clog
filters and increase maintenance costs.

Human and domestic and wild animal health impacts due to cyanotoxins in water have
obvious direct economic impacts.

Once significant eutrophication has occurred, the costs of corrective action can be
enormous. Macrophytes may need to be sprayed or brought under control by biological
or other costly treatment processes.

 

MANAGEMENT

The basis of eutrophication management is often the ‘limiting nutrient concept’
[Walmsley, 2000]. The rate and extent of aquatic plant growth is dependent on the
concentration and ratios of nutrients present in the water. Plant growth is generally
limited by the concentration of that nutrient that is present in the least quantity relative
to the growth needs of the plant. Minimisation of eutrophication-related impacts
therefore tends to be focussed on efforts to reduce nutrient (particularly phosphorus)
inputs. This approach therefore deals directly with the primary cause of eutrophication
(namely, nutrient enrichment).
Typically, limiting nutrients entering an impoundment exhibiting a high degree of
eutrophication will first focus on point sources. These are easier to quantify, simpler to
manage and often contribute the highest nutrient load. Following this, non-point sources
are managed and then internal (“in-lake”) management options can be implemented.

Hurricane Katrina

         Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall. At least 1,833 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion (2005 USD),^[ nearly triple the damage brought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

 

 

 

Hurricane Katrina was a massive hurricane that hit the Gulf Region of the United States on August 29, 2005. The hurricane was a category 5 as it approached the coast, and hit land as a category 4.

The storm was quite large, with hurricane-force winds extending 105 miles from the eye, and tropical storm-force winds extending over 230 miles.

The hurricane caused extensive and severe damage in Louisiana and Mississippi, but the hardest hit area was New Orleans, Louisiana. Seventy percent of New Orleans lies below sea level and a series of levees normally preclude water from the Mississippi River from flooding the city. But a break in the levee system during Hurricane Katrina caused massive flooding throughout most of the city.

About 180,000 homes were under water during the flood.

And the electrical systems and water systems were non-functional.

Hurricane Katrina may prove to be the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

Emergency Response Planning and Implementation

The consequences of Katrina for anyone left stranded in New Orleans were not only foreseeable; they wereforeseen. Among difficulties faced by state and localplanners was that more than 100,000 New Orleanians,principally the poor, mostly black residents without cars,together with the elderly, disabled, and infirm, would beunable to evacuate themselves. In the face of this certain knowledge, government officials failed to provide public transportation, leaving tens of thousands of residents to fend for themselves.Despite ample and clear warnings, the federal government did not even begin seriously to address the situation until 2004. At that time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a contract to a consulting firm to develop a better plan. FEMA Director Michael Brownpromised to move quickly to polish the plan and move forward. Nevertheless, DHS cut funding for hurricane disaster planning, and according to former FEMA
Director Michael Brown, “Money was not available to do the follow up.” The federal government also failed to provide any resources to the city or state to fund
emergency bus service or provide other means to assist in evacuation. In the absence of any federal help, New Orleans was unable to marshal the resources to
implement a public transportation evacuation plan. So when the order to evacuate New Orleans came on August 28, 2005, it was effectively meaningless to tens of thousands of residents without the resources to get out on their own.

 

 

 

Those Affected by Katrina Have Mixed Feelings About Their Road to Recovery

PROGRESS TOWARD RECOVERY
When asked whether they were making good progress toward their recovery from this disaster, at the
time they were interviewed, nearly half (48%) of all those affected by Katrina strongly agreed that
they were. This number is slightly higher for men (52%), those living in Alabama (54%), those who
did not seek additional aid (53%), those with incomes of $100,000 or more (60%), and those who are
employed (54%). There was little difference based on evacuee status, state of residence, level of education
or race.
Few respondents (7%) disagreed strongly that they were making good progress. However, 7% of
those affected by Katrina still represents approximately 153,060 adults. This number was slightly
higher for those who are divorced (12%), those who have a household income less than $35,000
(9%), those with disabilities (13%), those who returned to agencies for additional services (14%) and
those who are unemployed (9%).

About three-quarters (73%) of those affected by Katrina strongly agree that they have a strong and
supportive network of family and friends. Those who are married (77%), those with household
incomes of $100,000 or more (82%) and those who are employed (75%) are more likely to strongly
agree that they have strong support networks (see Table 8). Residents of Louisiana (76%) and
Alabama (78%) were also more likely than residents of Mississippi (65%) to strongly agree that they
have a strong and supportive network of family and friends.
Those who were more likely to receive aid in the first month after Katrina were more likely to strongly
agree that people were doing all they could to help their families. Non-evacuees because of limited
means (51%), those who were single (41%), adults between the ages of 35-54 (42%), those with children
(46%), and African American (52%) and other ethnic minorities (43%) were more likely to
strongly agree that people were doing all they could to help their families. Agreement with this statement
did not vary significantly by state of residence.

Economic effects

The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi in late August 2005, were far-reaching. 2006, the Bush Administration had sought $105 billion for repairs and reconstruction in the region, making it the costliest natural disaster in US history. And this does not account for damage to the economy caused by potential interruption of the oil supply and exports of commodities such as cotton. Also, before Hurricane Katrina, the region supported approximately one million non-farm jobs, with 600,000 of them in New Orleans. One study, by Mark Burton and Michael J. Hicks estimated the total economic impact to Louisiana and Mississippi may exceed $150 billion. Hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, including nearly everyone who lived in New Orleans, were left unemployed. No paychecks were being cashed and no money was being spent, and therefore no taxes were being collected by local governments. The lack of revenue will limit the resources of the affected communities and states for years to come. Before the storm, the region was already one of the poorest in America with one of the highest unemployment rates.

Furthermore, Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has refused to allow victims of the hurricane to take advantage of any exception to the recent Bankruptcy Reform, a recent bill passed with widespread support of the banking industry that aims to curb abuse of bankruptcy protection by repeat filers and those who are able to repay debts reasonably. "If someone in Katrina is down and out, and has no possibility of being able to repay 40% or more of their debts, then the new bankruptcy law doesn't apply," Sensenbrenner said.

There was also some concern when, on September 8, 2005, President Bush temporarily suspended the Davis-Bacon Act in the affected areas, which allowed for contractors working on Federal construction projects to be paid less than the prevailing local wage. The concerns over these actions were primarily that allowing the government to pay less than the prevailing wage would contribute to increased poverty in the region, which already ranked among the lowest in the nation in terms of household income. The act was later reinstated on October 26, 2005, amid political pressure from both Democrats and Republicans in the United States Congress.

Myanmar earthquake 2012

The earthquake was caused by right lateral movement on the Sagaing Fault between Singu and Tagaung, with a rupture length of 60-70 km, and was followed by three large (M≥5) aftershocks in the area south of the main shock epicenter and one to the north

Damage

Many buildings, including monasteries, pagodas, a hospital, and a school collapsed in Male and neighboring villages. Damage was also reported from Shwebo, Mogok and Mandalay.^[7] The Radana Thinga Bridge, which was still under construction, fell into the Irrawaddy River, and several workers went missing.

Burma earthquake leaves at least 12 feared dead

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake has struck northern Burma, destroying a bridge and a goldmine and leaving up to 12 people feared dead.

The full extent of the damage caused by the quake on Sunday morning remains unclear as the country has a limited official disaster response system.

Mandalay, Burma's second-biggest city and the nearest population hub to the earthquake, reported no casualties or widespread damage. The city lies about 72 miles south of the quake's epicenter, near the town of Shwebo.

Myanmar struggles to reach quake victims

Myanmar rescuers struggled Monday to bring help to outlying villages hit by an earthquake that aid agencies say has killed at least 13 and caused a bridge and mine to collapse.

A series of powerful aftershocks rattled nerves after Sunday’s 6.8-magnitude quake, which sent terrified people running from their homes in Myanmar’s second-biggest city of Mandalay and surrounding villages.

Authorities said they were providing help to victims including those without shelter after more than 100 homes were damaged but that communication problems made it difficult to assess the scale of damage and reach more remote areas.
Villagers in settlements north of Mandalay told AFP Monday they had yet to see rescue teams following the quake, which left dozens injured and also damaged monasteries and public buildings

Earthquake in upper Myanmar alarm for disaster preparation

Experts have described a devastating earthquake that hit upper Myanmar last week as a “wake up call” about the urgent need for better earthquake preparedness, particularly in urban areas.

The experts said the 6.8-magnitude, Sunday, November 11 quake, which had its epicentre near Shwebo, could also increase seismic activity in other segments of the Sagaing Fault, the country’s most earthquake-prone region.

The Sagaing Fault is a 1500-kilometre-long right lateral strike-slip fault running from northern Myanmar to Gulf of Mottama.

The fault has three particularly vulnerable segments: Bago to Taungoo, Sagaing to Tagaung and Myitkyina to Putao.

Experts said last week’s shallow-focus earthquake, which severely jolted towns in Mandalay and Sagaing Region, was the strongest to hit the Sagaing section of the fault in about 60 years.

Dr Win Swe, vice president of the Myanmar Earthquake Committee, who discovered the Sagaing Fault in the 1970s, said populated area along the fault needed to be better prepared for future earthquakes.

He said earthquakes would have a disproportionately large impact in future because of the dramatic increase in urban populations and associated structures that could be considered man-made hazards in the event of a quake.

“There were no high-rise concrete buildings in Bago in 1930 earthquake, which recorded a magnitude of about 7.0. About 400 people died in Bago, while about 50 casualties were recorded in Yangon. At the time the total population of the country was about 14-15 million. We need to consider the differences between Bago and Yangon then and now – those differences will mean there will be a different impact between past and future earthquakes,” he said.

Myanmar Earthquake 2012: 6.8 Magnitude Quake Kills At Least 12

A strong earthquake collapsed a bridge and damaged ancient Buddhist pagodas in northern Myanmar, and piecemeal reports from the underdeveloped mining region said mines collapsed and as many as 12 people were feared dead.

Myanmar's Vice President Sai Mauk Hkam visited the damaged sites Monday, while authorities resumed their search for four missing workers near the collapsed bridge over the Irrawaddy River in Kyaukmyaung.

A slow release of official information left the actual extent of the damage unclear after Sunday morning's magnitude-6.8 quake. Myanmar has a poor official disaster response system and lost upward of 140,000 people to a devastating cyclone in 2008.

"We have been told by the director of Relief and Resettlement Department that there were seven dead and 45 injured as of late Sunday evening. The figure could fluctuate," said Ashok Nigam, the U.N. development program's resident representative. He told The Associated Press that U.N. agencies had offered aid but "no formal request has been made yet."

Myanmar's second-biggest city of Mandalay is the nearest population center to the main quake but reported no casualties or major damage. Mandalay lies about 117 kilometers (72 miles) south of the epicenter near the town of Shwebo, and the smaller towns in the area that is a center for mining of minerals and gemstones were worse hit.

State media's Sunday evening news said damage included 102 homes, 21 religious buildings, 48 government offices and four schools in the town of Thabeikyin. The gold-mining town is near the epicenter and had three dead and 35 injured.

The official tally overall is six killed and 64 injured, while independently compiled tallies say about a dozen people died.

Bermuda Triangle

• Where is The Bermuda Triangle located?

The apexes of the triangle are generally believed to be Bermuda; Miami, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, The US Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name. The term "Bermuda Triangle" was first used in an article written by Vincent H. Gaddis for Argosy magazine in 1964. In the article, Gaddis claimed that in this strange sea a number of ships and planes had disappeared without explanation.

• How the Bermuda Triangle Works

You won't find it on any official map and you won't know when you cross the line, but according to some people, the Bermuda Triangle is a very real place where dozen of ships, planes and people have disappeared with no good explanation. Since a magazine first coined the phrase "Bermuda Triangle" in 1964, the mystery has continued to attract attention. When you dig deeper into most cases, though, they're much less mysterious. Either they were never in the area to begin with, they were actually found, or there's a reasonable explanation for their disappearance.
Does this mean there's nothing to the claims of so many who have had odd experiences in the Bermuda Triangle? Not necessarily. Scientists have documented deviations from the norm in the area and have found some interesting formations on the seafloor within the Bermuda Triangle's boundaries. So, for those who like to believe in it, there is plenty fuel for the fire.

In this article, we'll look at the facts surrounding what we do know about the area as well as some of the most commonly-recited stories. We'll also explore the bizarre theories like aliens and space portals as well as the mundane explanations.
­Many think of the Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, as an "imaginary" area. The U. S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle and does not maintain an official file on it. However, within this imaginary area, many real vessels and the people aboard them have seemingly disappeared without explanation.

The Bermuda Triangle is located off the Southeastern coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean, with its apexes in the vicinities of Bermuda, Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. It covers roughly 500,000 square miles.

The area may have been named after its Bermuda apex since Bermuda was once known as the "Isle of Devils." Treacherous reefs that have ensnared ships sailing too close to its shores surround Bermuda, and there are hundreds of shipwrecks in the waters that surround it.

 

• The Bermuda Triangle Mystery

 

Over the past 100 years, the Bermuda Triangle has seen what some say is a significant and inordinately high number of unexplained disappearances of planes, ships and people. Some reports say that as many as 100 ships and planes have been reported missing in the area and more than 1,000 lives have been lost. The U.S. Coast Guard, however, maintains that the area does not have an unusual number of incidents.

In 1975, Mary Margaret Fuller, editor of "Fate" magazine, contacted Lloyd's of London for statistics on insurance payoffs for incidents occurring within the Bermuda Triangle's usually accepted boundaries. According to Lloyd's records, 428 vessels were reported missing throughout the world between 1955 and 1975, and th­ere was no greater incidence of events occurring in the Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else in the world.

Gian J. Quasar, author of "Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery" and curator of Bermuda-triangle, argues that this report "is completely false." Quasar reasons that because Lloyd's does not insure small crafts like yachts and often doesn't insure small charter boats or private aircraft, its records can't be the definitive source. He also states that the Coast Guard's records, which it publishes annually, do not include "missing vessels." He requested data on "overdue vessels" and received (after 12 years of asking) records of 300 missing/overdue vessels for the previous two years. Whether those vessels ultimately returned is unknown. His Web site has a list of these vessels.
The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) database indicates (according to Gian J. Quasar) that only a handful of aircraft have disappeared off the New England coast over the past 10 years, while over 30 have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle.

The mystery of the Triangle probably took hold with the first well-publicized disappearance in 1945, when five Navy Avengers disappeared in the area. The cause of the disappearance was originally "pilot error," but family members of the pilot leading the mission couldn't accept that he had made such a mistake. Eventually they convinced the Navy to change it to "causes or reasons unknown."
The myth gained momentum after reporter E.V.W. Jones compiled a list of "mysterious disappearances" of ships and planes between the Florida coast and Bermuda. Two years later, George X. Sand wrote an article for "Fate" magazine, titled "Sea Mystery at our Back Door." The article was about a "series of strange marine disappearances, each leaving no trace whatever, that have taken place in the past few years" in a "watery triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico."


As more incidents occurred, the reputation grew and past events were reanalyzed and added to the legend. In 1964, "Argosy Magazine" gave the triangle its name in an article titled "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" by Vincent Gaddis. Argosy magazine's tagline a "magazine of master fiction," but that did nothing to halt the spread of the myth. More articles, books, and movies have appeared, suggesting theories ranging from alien abductions to a giant octopus.

 

 

 

• What are the two important accidents that occurred in The Bermuda Triangle?

USS Cyclops: The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops went missing without a trace with a crew of 309 sometime after March 4, 1918, after departing the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for any single theory, many independent theories exist,. Some blaming storms, some capsizing, and some suggesting that wartime enemy activity was to blame for.

Flight 19: Flight 19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5, 1945, while over the Atlantic. Adding to the mystery, a search and rescue Mariner aircraft with a 13-man crew was dispatched to aid the missing flight but it also met with unforeseen trouble and the Mariner itself was never heard from again.

 

 

 

• Is The Bermuda Triangle a Myth or Reality?

 

As eerie as it might sound while the basic facts of the several versions of all the stories are essentially accurate, some important details have always been missing. Time and again, books and other media broadcasts have stated that in the case of most of the disappearances, the weather was favorable, the disappearances occurred in daylight after a sudden break in radio contact, and the vessels vanished without a trace! But then again, scientists are also of the opinion that the number of disappearances in the region are not abnormal and that most of the disappearances have logical explanations. So to surmise, does the Bermuda Triangle in reality exists or just a figment of imagination leads to absolute zero culmination and hence we can say that it is rightly named as “The Devil’s Triangle”.