Germany will give 84 million euros (90 million dollars) to Pakistan in a bid to raise billions needed to help the country adapt to climate change after last year’s devastating floods, officials said Monday at an international conference.

“This is a crisis that Pakistan cannot overcome alone,” the State Secretary in Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development said. 

Jochen Flasbarth said this at the UN event in Geneva, adding that “We are sending a signal that will hopefully have an effect.”

The funding from Berlin would be used to finance projects like the construction of rainwater retention basins and drainage systems.

The United Nations estimates that 16 billion dollars were needed for reconstruction in Pakistan.

The government in Islamabad aimed to raise half of this sum itself.

Germany already pledged 67 million euros to rebuild infrastructure and deal with the social consequences after the flooding last summer.

“It is crucial that we support Pakistan not only in immediate reconstruction but also in adapting better and sustainably to climate change,” Mr Flasbarth said.

Germany is due in May to hold government negotiations with Pakistan at which further funds would likely be available.

In a disaster of such magnitude, the solidarity of the world community is called for, Achim Steiner, head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told dpa at the conference in Switzerland.

“The recovery of Pakistan’s economy is in all our interests,” he said, adding that failure to tackle this now could result in increased migration and potentially also extremism and radicalisation.

(dpa/NAN)