Dutch Wastelands (1983: Doomsday)

The Dutch Wastelands (sometimes called the Holland Wastelands) is a geographical area created after Doomsday. It is a large swamp covered area located in the former Netherlands. Prior to Doomsday the Netherlands was a geographically low-lying country, with about 27% of its area and 60% of its population located below sea level. These areas were gained through land reclamation and preserved through an elaborate system of polders and dikes.

On September26, 1983 the Netherlands and its neighboring countries were hit by several nuclear missiles. These completely destroyed several urban areas and killed millions. As a side affect several of the dikes and polders set up in these areas were destroyed as well, causing so minor flooding in these areas. More serious and lasting however was the lack of manpower set up for maintaining Holland’s drainage system. The drainage pumps, lacking fuel, skills and people to operate them, remained inoperative after Doomsday. Slowly these areas began sinking back into sea from which they came.

Over the years almost half of the country began to fill up with brackish water, subsequently transforming the areas into radiation infested swamps prone to being flooded by the sea. The only signs of past civilization left here are crumbling ruins of former settlements halfway filled with water. Their remain very few people who still live here. Although a few nomads and recluse inhabitance the area, they number in the mere thousands in a region which once held over 10 million.

Although located mostly below sea level Friesland escaped most of the flooding. In Friesland lack of manpower was not immediately an issue but fuel was quickly running out. A solution was found by once again using the ols school method of keeping dry feet by using windmills as water pumps. Most old windmills, whether intended as pumps or not, were put to this use and many new ones were constructed. Though the lands are vastly wetter using these methods and only the higher lying ground can be used to raise crops, the lower lying lands are still much suiting to keep livestock.

In Groningen similar methods were used, but with much less success. Given the anarchic conditions that griped the providence at the time these efforts were much less coordinated. This allowed the city of Groningen and the surrounding area to sink into swampland.

Today the Dutch Wastelands are seen as a useless navigational hazard for travelers. Because of the widespread tidal flooding the Frisian chain of islands now extends up to the former border of Belgium. The Dutch wastelands are today claimed by the Netherlands Antilles though no actual functioning government exists here.

The fate of the Dutch Wastelands remains uncertain. Although radiation levels have dropped they remain too high for safe rehabilitation. Although there have been talks of eventual resettlement by the Netherlands Antilles, these remain minor and unofficial. Most likely if things remain their current course the Dutch Wastelands will sink completely into the ocean over the next few decades. It will then become a shallow bay along the North Sea coast.