The country of the Netherlands just about owes its current existence to the practice of beach nourishment. In a lot of cases it is the most economical and least

The country of the Netherlands just about owes its current existence to the practice of beach nourishment. In a lot of cases it is the most economical and least impactfull way to defend an eroding sandy coast. So called hard solutions (rock and conrete based) mostly fail within a few years/decades. And what is the point of living along the coast if there is no beach anyways? Note that it is well understood that beach nourishment is a recurring thing, and thus will be planned/budgetted for. Any other kind of coastal defence structure will also need (a lot of) maintenance which is oftentimes neglected, leading to catastrophic failure (sudden collapse/breach). A sandy coast can certainly fail to provide adequate protection, but it is rarely sudden breach/collapse/rupture.