Yalstede said, "Our country's Water Conservancy Construction has many problems, especially because some early projects were planned irrationally, triggering ecological and environmental disasters that led to economic losses. Take the 1876 Ankalena Reservoir dam collapse, which caused over a hundred casualties and washed away parts of farmland and villages."
The Ankalena Reservoir dam collapse had clearly not been as lightly described by Yalstede. The actual death toll and injuries had reached several thousand, except black laborer casualties were not counted in East African statistics.
Ankalena Reservoir had been a large reservoir planned in East Africa's early years. Technically, it had been quite feasible. The main problem had arisen during construction, when flooding occurred due to a mistaken assessment of the weather. At the time, Ankalena Reservoir had not yet been completed, and the workers' camp had been too close to the riverbank, leading to the subsequent disaster.
East Africa's early grasp of domestic hydrology had clearly been far less comprehensive than it was now. Together with relatively backward technology and an insufficiently trained corps of specialists, many factors had caused this tragedy.
And according to the East African government's usual practices, a major Water Conservancy Construction project like this could hardly have lacked vast numbers of black laborers. Thus, many black laborers had perished in this disaster. For such sacrifices, the East African government would not shed even a single crocodile tear; instead, it would only intensify its actions.
Yalstede continued, "But overall, our country's Water Conservancy Construction has brought enormous benefits to the nation. Such minor problems are not worth mentioning before the immense economic and social gains. Therefore, over the next decade, our country should pursue higher goals: further raise the standard of national water conservancy facilities, improve transportation accessibility across the country, and better serve the development