Delta Works
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Image:Deltawerke-Oosterschelde-Sturmflutwehr Straße.jpg In the North Sea Flood of 1953, breaks in the dikes and seawalls in the Netherlands killed 1,835 people and forced the evacuation of 70,000 more. 10,000 animals drowned, and 4,500 buildings were destroyed. To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, an ambitious flood defense system was conceived and deployed, called the Delta Works (Dutch: Deltawerken).
This project was intended to improve the safety of the lower areas of the Netherlands against severe storms and flooding; since more than one third of the nation's land lies below sea level, this is no simple task. Dunes along the entire seashore were raised by as much as 5 metres, while the islands in Zeeland province were joined together by dams and other large scale constructions to shorten the coastline. The most sophisticated and famous of these dams is the Oosterscheldekering (left of the leftmost "i" on the satellite image), which can be opened and closed to keep the sea at bay while preserving the saltwater river delta for wildlife and the fishing industry. Less known, but not less impressive, is the Maeslantkering storm surge barrier near the port of Rotterdam.
However, there is an ongoing fundamental discussion about the basics of the Delta Works: the mainland is subsiding and due to climate changes sea levels are rising. Eventually the dikes will have to be made higher and wider. This is a long term uphill battle against the sea, which many feel cannot be won. (The very history of the Netherlands, much of whose territory is reclaimed from the sea, would seem to belie this view, however.) Some people argue that relocation of population centres and giving up land to the sea would be a longer lasting solution than to 'fight the sea'. However, the Netherlands have a very high population density and can ill afford the loss of habitable and arable land.
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Template:Commonsca:Pla Delta de:Deltawerke es:Plan Delta fr:Plan Delta nl:Deltawerken sv:Deltaprojektet