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A week after the largest floods in the region in recent history, which killed at least 170 people in Germany and a total of 201 in Europe, the “grand coalition” government of the right and left has set aside some 400 million. EUR for emergency aid.
Half of this amount will be provided by the federal government of Europe’s largest economy, and the rest by the country’s 16 regional authorities, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.
“We will make sure that life continues,” Scholz told reporters.
According to him, a “billion-dollar reconstruction program will be developed in the coming months to eliminate the effects of destruction and restore infrastructure”, such as roads, bridges and railways.
“We will rebuild everything: businesses, factories, buildings,” said the minister.
During a visit to the medieval city of Bad Münsterereifel on Tuesday, Merkel promised that Berlin would provide both short-term and long-term assistance.
“It was a flood beyond our imagination, judging by the devastation it caused,” Merkel told reporters during a visit to 17,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia. in the population community, which the daily Bild called the damage “apocalyptic”.
According to the chancellor, her government will do everything possible “so that the money reaches the people quickly.”
“I hope it’s a matter of days,” he said, adding that he had met with local victims who “had nothing but clothes.”
At that time, the Walloon government, which was badly affected in Belgium, promised a total of up to 2 billion euros for reconstruction. the damage caused by the floods as “unprecedented”.
Long recovery
During her visit, Merkel was accompanied by the Prime Minister of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who is seen as one of the favorites to become the new chancellor after the general elections of September 26. .
Mr. Laschet asked for help to reach the victims “without bureaucracy and as quickly as possible” and promised to add the same amount to Berlin’s financial aid from his regional budget.
He warned that rebuilding could take “several months, maybe even a year.”
Scholz, the Social Democratic candidate for chancellor, said Germany would have to prepare for more and more natural disasters caused by climate change.
It has already been confirmed that 121 people died in the floods in Rhineland-Palatinate; at least 48 of them lost their lives in North Rhine-Westphalia and another in Bavaria.
At least 31 people have died in Belgium and another 53 are still being sought. Later, heavy rains caused riots in southern Germany and several neighboring countries.
“We continue to search for the missing by cleaning roads and pumping water from basements,” Sabine Lackner, vice president of the German civil protection agency THW, told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.
“But sadly now it is very likely that we can only find the bodies and not save people,” he added.
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