Today we visited the Watersnoodmuseum, a museum that shows the history of a horrible flood that occurred in the Netherlands in 1953, as well as work being done to prevent similar floods from happening in the future. This museum started by describing the flood itself as well as the victims of it, giving faces to the names and showing belongings recovered after the flood. This worked well in connecting me to the flood and its victims, as this is an event I hadn’t heard about before, yet I genuine sympathy for the people affected. The museum continued by showing a timeline of floods in the Netherlands, showing a history of disasters and actions taken to prevent future incidents. This was interesting to learn about as it showed the resilience of the Dutch people in overcoming the threat that the sea posed, as well the failures that had to be overcome the create the system they have today. Following this we learned about the aftermath of the flood both as an immediate response as well as actions taken to prevent future flooding like this from happening again. One thing that I thought was interesting was the initial resistance from using more modern methods of water control by the Dutch. For example, one section said that initially people didn’t want to use a specific type of boat to help create barriers, as this went the traditional method of creating dykes and the like. However, after the flood of 1953, this way of thinking had to be abandoned as it meant that they couldn’t make as effective dykes as they potentially could, putting people at risk. This shows that sometime people must be willing to let go of the past in order to have a better future, as it is only due to more modern advancements that the Dutch are able to have as good of control of the water as they do. Near the off of the museum was a short film about humanity’s relationship with bodies of water. The film was about how even though regions by bodies of water such as seas are at a much greater risk of disasters such as floods, people still try to live their due to the benefits of such an area. Because of this, as well as the increasing occurrence of things such as floods due to global warming, we need to always be prepared for such a disaster. The end of the museum showed methods of managing water level management and flood control, such as strengthening dykes, widening rivers, building pumping stations, and more. Overall, I think that this museum shows the importance of proper engineering, as only with a properly engineered system can the Dutch feel safe from floods. Otherwise, we could get another flood like that of 1953, with the associated death and destruction.