ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, said on Thursday devastation from recent floods was so severe that relief activities would have to carry on for at least the next two years.

Devastating floods engulfed large swathes of Pakistan this month, killing more than 1,600 people and sweeping away homes, crops, bridges, roads and livestock and causing an estimated $30 billion of damage.

“Rehabilitation activities in the flood-affected areas may continue for two years in view of the scale of the devastation caused by the calamity,” Radio Pakistan reported, quoting Iqbal at a media talk.

“Natural disasters are a result of climate change, however, we are coming up with plans to deal with them in future. For now, the government has allocated Rs40 billion for 20 underdeveloped districts.”

Iqbal added that the nation would have to unite to come in aid of flood victims, lauding the work of international charities, local non-governmental organizations and the armed forces.

In the wake of the floods, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appealed to rich nations for immediate debt relief, saying what had been done was commendable, but adding, “It’s far from meeting our needs.”

Sharif, who was in New York last week to attend the UN General Assembly, told Bloomberg TV that Pakistan had taken up the debt relief issue with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and world leaders.

“We have spoken to European leaders and other leaders to help us in Paris club, to get us a moratorium,” he said, referring to rich nation creditors.

Sharif has said the country of 220 million would not be able to stand on its feet “unless we get substantial relief.” He said Pakistan would also seek relief from long-time ally China, to which it owes about 30 percent of its external debt.

Sharif and then finance minister Miftah Ismail said they had also taken up the relief issue with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Ismail said the IMF has “almost agreed” to the request for easing the conditions of Pakistan’s $7 billion program that was resumed in July after being delayed for months.

“They’ve said almost yes,” he told local Pakistani Dunya News TV in New York a day after Sharif met the IMF’s managing director.