Dutch resiliency in the coastal Delta, by alert people

Abstract

The Wester coastal Delta zone of the Netherlands is the relatively more crowded
area of the country where ten of the seventeen million people live. The governmental prognosis is that this number of people will increase steadily in the coming decennia, unless the threat of climate-change seawater level rising. This is the picture in more Delta zones globally what makes the topic of resiliency for these delta-areas of importance. Approaches of resiliency are often dominated by governmental rescue planning and believe in technology solutions. By comparing the float disasters of the 20015 Katrina and 2012 Sandy thunderstorms that hit respectively New Orleans and New York we can learn that the behaviour of people can make the difference in overcoming climate change impact disasters. Post-PhD research with focus on the Dutch Zaanstreek-Waterland area near the city of Amsterdam where in 1916 a severe flood happened confirmed such. The outcome from focus group sessions was that the disaster from 100 year before still kept the inhabitants of this countryside area alert into resiliency if the memory of the area inhabitants is kept alert. The result is that the definition of resiliency could be improved into: ‘the interplay resistance coping with threats in a triangular relationship of civil servants, technicians and residents’. Therewith the question arose: ‘how alert are the people in cities without such stored memory’. Therefor advanced questionnaire
research among Zaanstad citizens is done, special for the IFOU 2018 conference. The result is that these citizens although they are alert to climate change related disasters, do not take precautions and do rely on government to overcome such severe situations.