Sea level rise is a hot topic in the Netherlands. There is a general public awareness of the importance of levees and dykes, and no one will question the necessity to reinforce and heighten the dykes if the water level goes up.

 In California people seem to be less concerned, even though the problems that the State may face if the sea level starts to rise are of an equal scale . Like the Netherlands, large parts of California are protected from floods by dykes and levees. These dykes will need to be reinforced and heightened as the sea level rises, but is the government willing to invest?

In California people are concerned with earthquakes. The 1906 earthquake destroyed the city of San Francisco and there is a 46 % chance that an earthquake with magnitude 7.5 or larger will strike again within the next 30 years. After the big disaster, the government invested in the development of new building techniques and set strict building criteria in order to prevent such a disaster from happening again.

Maybe it takes a disaster to create awareness, but hopefully Californian engineers can convince the government to start taking measures before it is too late!