Merkel in the disaster zone: ‘No words for this kind of devastation’

Merkel said recovery is a long-term pledge and that a support package will be adopted on Wednesday. “Fortunately, Germany can support this financially.”

At the end of August, she wants to go to Schuld again, because “not all of it will be rebuilt here in the short term”.

Floods in Germany have claimed 157 lives so far.

Faster climate action

Merkel also points to the need for better climate policy. “We see here how great natural disasters can be. We will oppose them in the short term, but also in the medium and long term.” According to her, nature and climate should be taken into account more than in recent years. “We must hurry. We must be faster in the fight against climate change.”

“There is a need for a national effort to deal with the consequences of the catastrophe,” said regional Prime Minister Malo Drerer, who accompanied Merkel afterwards. “The search for survivors continues, and we will not rest until we find all the missing.”

Mayor Herbert Lucy van Schold, with a lump in his throat, said all buildings in his municipality had been damaged and that it would take years to restore everything. “This disaster will leave scars on all people in debt.” He is feeling stretched out by the help that Merkel has promised.

Smiling Prime Minister of the State

To ask a reporter about lash incident From Armin Laschet, her party’s presidential candidate who visited the disaster zone with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Merkel didn’t really get into it. “I think the concern in North Rhine-Westphalia is as great as it is in the Rhineland-Palatinate and the state has already saved money.” Laschet is the prime minister there.

When Steinmeier spoke about the situation in hard-hit Erwistadt, Laschet stood in the background laughing and talking to the people around him.