From: ian glendinning (psybertron@gmail.com)
Date: Fri Sep 09 2005 - 12:25:44 BST
Wim,
You say "History suggests that our government is very well able to do
so in time."
I say, in a word "Trust"
A healthy European suspension of scepticism.
I heard a debate somewhere recently that the US Federal / State /
Local system was deliberately chaotic by original design, so that
everyone at any level could claim their precious, trust no-one,
"freedoms". What a price to pay I say.
Nils Brunsson would call the US approach - hypocrisy.
Ian
On 9/9/05, Wim Nusselder <wim.nusselder@antenna.nl> wrote:
> Dear Platt,
>
> Why should the Dutch population be informed about how they are going to be
> evacuated in case of flooding?? History suggests that our government is very
> well able to do so in time. Don't forget that we don't have hurricanes here
> and that the most likely causes of flooding (e.g. a rising level of a main
> river or a storm plus spring tide that drives the sea against the dikes, as
> in 1953) can usually be better foreseen and guarded against than that. The
> most vulnerable dikes are patrolled in such cases. (But even hurricanes
> leave more time for evacuation than the US government used.) I can
> understand reticence on the part of the government. 'Preparedness' on the
> part of the population for possible flooding may cause more unnecessary fear
> than that it helps to prevent casualties. It also creates the false
> perception that risk of casualties through flooding is higher than the risk
> of casualties from other causes (that leave less time for evacuation), like
> fires or chemical accidents in densely populated areas or (threats of)
> terrorist bombings. In the very densely populated country of the
> Netherlands, that has a centuries long tradition of preventing flooding,
> these other causes are far more likely to cause casualties.
>
> With friendly greetings,
>
> Wim
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Platt Holden" <pholden@sc.rr.com>
> To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>; <owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk>
> Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 1:41 PM
> Subject: Re: MD Katrina - Thousands Dead ?
>
>
> > Dear Wim,
> >
> > > Dear Platt,
> > >
> > > You seem 6 Sep 14:52 -0400 to have misunderstood me when you wrote:
> > > "Thanks for reporting on the Netherlands plans (or lack thereof) for
> > > evacuation in case the dikes break. Frankly, I'm surprised. I thought if
> > > anybody would be thoroughly prepared, it would be the Dutch. Maybe it's
> > > human nature to believe "it can't happen to me." In any case, I hope the
> > > Dutch faith in their dikes is never tested."
> >
> > If I misunderstood you I apologize. But you did write, "Dutch government
> > does make calamity plans, but doesn't give the population much information
> > about it." So I concluded that since the population was not well informed
> > that the country was not "thoroughly prepared." In fact you repeat this
> > lack of knowledge on the part of the Dutch populace in your description
> > below: "We DO have good plans for evacuation even if the population at
> > large doesn't know a lot about them." I consider that to be a weakness in
> > the Dutch plan. Don't you?
> >
> > Best,
> > Platt
>
>
>
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