Dozens of countries and international institutions have pledged more than nine billion US dollars (£7.4 billion) to help Pakistan recover and rebuild from devastating summer floods described by the United Nations chief as “a climate disaster of monumental scale”.

The flooding killed more than 1,700 people, destroyed more than two million homes and covered as much as one-third of the country at one point, causing damage totalling more than 30 billion US dollars (£24.6 billion), UN and Pakistani officials said.

Large swaths of the country remain under water, with millions living near contaminated or stagnant waters, the UN said.

People stand in a long queue and wait to buy subsidised sacks of wheat-flour from a sale point in Peshawar, PakistanPeople stand in a long queue and wait to buy subsidised sacks of wheat-flour from a sale point in Peshawar, Pakistan (Muhammad Sajjad/AP)

Wrapping up a day-long conference at the UN offices in Geneva, Pakistani deputy foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the final tally came in above a target for the international community to meet half of the estimated 16.3 billion US dollars (£13.4 billion) needed to respond to the flooding.

The rest is expected to come from the Pakistani government.

“Taken as a whole, these commitments total more than nine billion dollars and from what we know so far, these are all additional commitments from what was already given in terms of humanitarian assistance, etc, from both bilateral and multilateral partners,” she said, adding a number of delegations have also offered in-kind support.

UN pledging conferences often draw promises of big sums from governments, international organisations and other donors, but those do not always get fulfilled entirely.

The Pakistani government has announced plans for independent, outside monitors to make sure that the funds go where they are needed.