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adoption of towns and villages in the flooded areas by those not affected
by the disaster.
It was noted with great satisfaction that the aid and assistance was not
confined to the Netherlands itself, since with amazing spontaneity aid in
almost any form was sent or promised literally from all parts of the world.
This was no longer a matter of Netherlanders helping each other, but a
powerful hand extended by one world citizen to another!
Space would not permit of a detailed account of the aid given by each
country and this might moreover lead to an unfair comparison. It will
therefore suffice to give a general summary of the various categories of
relief and assistance received:
1. Voluntary services (especially by military personnel) rendered in life-
saving, clearing and repairs.
2. Gifts in the form of clothing, bedding, household effects, food, medical
supplies, etc. for the victims; the quantities received were in excess
of requirements.
3. Equipment and materials of the most widely divergent nature supplied
either as a gift or on loan (helicopters, dukws, caissons and the like)
4. Transport facilities provided by aviation, shipping, railway and road
transport companies.
5. Reductions on quotations from private firmsthe goods were frequent
ly offered at cost price.
6. Gifts in the form of money. In many cases the monies had to be used
for purchases in the countries concerned, while conversely goods
collected in other countries were sold in the Netherlands on behalf of
the Netherlands National Disaster Fund.
7. Offers from foreign cities and private societies to adopt towns and
villages in the stricken area; this resulted in more than fifty foreign
cities and private societies remitting sums of money or arranging for
a long-term relief scheme through direct contact with the adopted
towns and villages.
8. Offers from foreign organizations and private individuals to provide
accommodation for and to look after children of families from the
flooded areas.
9. An unusual form of assistance was the stream of offers from foreign
technicians who placed their mostly unpatented inventions in
the sphere of hydraulic engineering at the disposal of the Netherlands
government free of charge. Where necessary, these offers are being
studied by the Netherlands Department of "Rijkswaterstaat".
10. Finally, there was a great deal of spontaneous activity abroad which
can best be described as "moral support". This category comprised
radio and television broadcasts, theatre performances, lectures, publi
cations and last but not least numerous letters from private individuals
expressing, often in the most moving terms, a sincere desire to help.
The material foreign aid in clothing and footwear, vehicles, machines
and tools, furniture, blankets and mattresses, fruit and medicines, sandbags
and basalt, hutments, wooden houses, etc. represented a value of at least
fls. 125 millions.
The greatest aid received from a single country amounted to about
fls. 16 millions. Another country sent material aid which proved to
represent a value of fls 1.50 per head of population.
The aid and assistance from both at home and abroad enabled the
Red Cross to distribute more than 30,000 parcels of textile goods, so that
all the victims who suffered the loss of such goods have once more acquired
a reasonably filled linen cupboard.
We Netherlanders shall never forget this. We shall always remember
with great appreciation and gratitude this international aid (in which the
League of Red Cross Societies played such an important part as inter
mediary). May we ourselves not be found wanting when an appeal is made
to our human kindness in the event of a similar disaster occurring outside
our frontiers.
An overwhelming stream of foreign aid reached us by waterthrough
the airby rail and by road. These four photographs can only
present a superficial picture of the extent of this aid.
