After a slower morning due to religious observations, we rolled into a transport to the Watersnoodmuseum, a scenic hour drive through the rural farmlands outside of Rotterdam spotted with cows and wind turbines. The museum itself was an insightful reminder of our false sense of control over mother nature and how we can only do so much to prevent natural disasters under certain conditions. The museum walked us through the history of dijks (dikes or water dam-mounds) and how their failures resulted in mass flooding of coastal areas, namely the major floods in 1953. The breaches in these dijks would be patchwork filled with sandbags in an attempt to stop the onslaught of water, a fix that rarely held. Artifacts and belongings of those who were killed by the disastrous floods caused by these breaches were a chilling reminder of the power of these floods, and how quickly their tragedy often struck. 

One of the creative solutions set out by multiple countries in cooperation was the donation of homes to the survivors of the floods who had lost not only their homes, but their livelihood in terms of their farming equipment. The Red Cross also played a major role in rebuilding after the damage had been done as well as donating equipment so that people could start getting their lives on track again. 

The tragedy of 1953 in Zeeland (outside of Rotterdam) is not one that can be easily forgotten. Due to climate change and the rise of global warming, such disasters are becoming more common and even more dangerous than before. From higher water levels to more saline in the groundwater, the dangers of mother nature are becoming even more extreme. A solution that the Dutch government proposed was the Delta Programme, led by the Delta Commissioner. This program, a collaborative effort from the government and various organizations and groups, is intended to plan the Netherlands and the world for the changing weather we will be seeing now and in the next hundreds of years. This group addresses various construction concerns about dijks and dams, as well as lobbying for such questions to be a regular part of environmental policy and plan. Even though this museum was a stark reminder of how far our planet has fallen into the dangerous edge of disrepair, it gives us the opportunity to project new solutions to such impending threats.