19
Density of population in the Netherlands in relation to the level of the land
JiIII_j
5 6 7 8 9 10
tenths of total area
Each man - symbol represents 10% of the population
mm.
slowly. But elsewhere it was a wall of water rushing over the land and
sweeping away all that stood in its path with its irresistible might. A single
example of the force of the water: A heavy railroad track about four miles
long lying on the top of one of our dikes at a height of about 34 ft. above
mean sea level was shifted by the flood and found back on the inside of
the dike.
In this ill-fated night, when alarm bells rang out everywhere and cattle
lowed with fear, about two thousand people lost their livesfifteen thousand
could just save themselves but had to abandon all their possessions.
The cattle stock pride of the country was decimated, tens of thousands
of cows, sheep, pigs and goats fell a prey to the water. Of the many magnifi
cent heavy Zeeland horses but few remained. Scores of prosperous towns
and villages, thousands of acres of arable land disappeared below the
swirling salt water, often to a depth of several yards Mourning settled
over the Netherlands.
A disaster, but one which once more was not faced by man in idleness
and despondency. No sooner had the first bad tidings been broadcast than
people everywhere, both at home and abroad, came to the rescue and
rendered assistance in many ways.
When the first needs had been fulfilled the mighty Netherlands appa
ratus of hydraulic engineering backed by centuries of experience
came into action and within the space of a year succeeded in halting the
ingress of sea water, closing some six hundred breaches both large and
small and reclaiming the land temporarily lost to the sea.
This issue of "The Way Ahead" is devoted to the history of the twelve
months which lie between 1st February, 1953 and 1st February, 1954.
In a few words, we wish to remind our readers of the disaster which
hit the Netherlands people a year ago.
In addition we wish to report in sincere gratitude on the great and
varied assistance which the Netherlands received really from all parts
of the world assistance which has once more strengthened our faith in
world solidarity, still growing despite everything.
In this issue of "The Way Ahead", however, we also wish to report,
with some justifiable pride, on the glorious counterattack launched by
our hydraulic engineers, our dike builders and land reclamation experts
against the old enemy, which attack after great efforts and many setbacks
was ultimately crowned with victory!
And finally this:
In 1667 Hendrik Stevin, son of the great engineer Simon Stevin, wrote
a treatise on "How to get rid of the fury and the poison of the sea". The
"fury" was the floods, the "poison" was the salt, and he prophesied a short
coast line (with dams across the many estuaries) strongly defended against
the enemy called the North Sea. He knew he was preposterous, but he
maintained that his great vision had an unavoidable future. It
is an interesting point, therefore, that actually as a result of the floods
of February 1953 the Netherlanders are now contemplating in earnest to
shorten the coast line considerably by closing the Dutch estuaries.
This plan, too, is discussed in the present issue of "The Way Ahead".
°k -k
The fight of Holland against the sea goes on indefinitely. It is a slow
fight, not measured in years, but in centuries. A whole lifetime may pass
without a serious threat, then suddenly the sea attacks with a force which
takes the generation that suffers from it by surprise.
One of the most striking facts that faces any generation of Netherlands
To avoid misunderstanding with respect to this
map it should be pointed out that the land in the
Netherlands is divided into a large number of
polders by numerous dikes and that a breach
at one point will not necessarily involve the
immediate flooding of the whole of the coloured
area. The flooding is as a rule restricted to a
single polder. The disaster in February 1953 was
caused by the simultaneous occurrence of scores
of breaches.
Protected by dikes against sea- flooding
Protected by dikes against river- flooding
