Quake death toll rises to more than 79,000

New figures released by regional officials today pushed the death toll in South Asia’s earthquake to more than 79,000.

Asif Iqbal Daudzai, information minister for Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, said 37,958 people died in the province and 23,172 were injured, many of them in Mansehra district.

He said the figures were based on reports from local government and hospital officials in the area.

“Most of the human loss occurred in Mansehra, where Balakot and other towns were totally destroyed,” Daudzai said.

He said 32,653 people died in Mansehra alone. Officials in Pakistani-held Kashmir have said at least 40,000 people died in that region in the October 8 earthquake.

India has reported 1,360 deaths in the part of Kashmir that it controls.

Pakistan’s central government has said at least 42,000 people died in North West Frontier Province and Pakistani-held Kashmir, and that the toll was rising.