[IP] more on Katrina and lessons from abroad
-----Original Message-----
From: "Paul Saffo"<psaffo@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: 02/09/05 9:37:40 AM
To: "dave@xxxxxxxxxx"<dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Paul Saffo"<psaffo@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Katrina and lessons from abroad
Dave-
There is a very good interview on The World ( www.theworld.org ) with
Georg Schulz (sp?), a senior minister in the Ministry of
Transportation,Public Works and Water Management in Delft, the
Netherlands about dikes. He points out that the 1952 event changed
they way they thought about their dikes. Schulz is delightfully Dutch
-- utterly direct and pragmatic. Do listen to the entire interview,
but here is an excerpt to whet your curiosity:
--------------
"If you look at the dikes in New Orleans... the safety level of the
dikes in New Orleans is for a once in 100 year event ... But... our
sea dikes have a 1 in 10,000 year safety level. A safty level about
100 times those in New Orleans..."
When asked about the cost of the Dutch dikes, he replied,
"If you look at the economic damage you have, then the investments
in the dikes are easily justified..."
----------------
So utterly, crushingly obvious...
-p
On Sep 2, 2005, at 3:17 AM, David Farber wrote:
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