3.9 - Netherlands Flashcards
How much of The Netherlands lies below sea level?
-26%
- 50% is below 1m above sea level
How much has the sea level risen since 1900?
19 cm
What was the Great Flood?
- Feb 1953
- mid latitude depression moving southward across North Sea
- created 5m storm surge
- inundate 17% of land area
What increase in proportion of urban areas at risk of flooding is predicted?
- 30-125% by 2100
Why is Rotterdam important?
- Largest European logistics hub
- Supports 75% of Europe
How much is spent by Dutch government on water management annually?
- €7 billion
- €1 billion for coastal flood systems
- increasing in increments of €2 billion per year
How much of the population lives in areas at risk of flooding?
- 66%
How much of the Dutch GDP is at risk from flooding?
- 70%
How large is the Deltaworks project?
- Dykes stretch across 16,500km
- contains levees, dams, locks, sluices, dykes
- largest flood defence system in the world
What sort of event is is the Dutch flood system designed for?
- 1 in 10,000
What is the most of the Netherlands lying on?
Rhine Delta sediment
- subsides by 8mm/year
How much is the Great Flood estimated to have cost?
- £400 million
- damaged around 50,000 buildings
What were the social impacts of the Great Flood?
- 1836 dead
- 72,000 displaced
- 10% of farmland destroyed
- 200,000+ livestock deaths
What is the Netherlands GDP based on?
- $1.1 trillion
- exports of chemicals and refined petroleum
- electrical machinery
- agriculture (flowers, UV farming)
How has the Dutch government used polders?
- Flooded farmland with water from river
- decrease water levels of river
- reclaim flooded farmland using polders to create marshland
- acts as relief area when river bursts banks
- water when polder floods is used to irrigate farmland further uphill
