The number of people who died in the earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan at the weekend stands at 25,000 and is expected to rise, the government said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said 15 to 20 percent of the area hit by Saturday's 7.6 magnitude quake, including the Neelam and Jhelum Valleys in Pakistani Kashmir, had yet to be reached to check casualty figures. "The Cabinet today was told that 25,000 people had been killed and this figure could rise further," Ahmed told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Another 1,200 people have been confirmed dead across the border in Indian Kashmir. Some local officials and politicians in Pakistan say deaths could exceed 40,000 and local authorities and aid groups were very concerned about the areas not yet visited. Determining the number killed in the quake was complicated by the remoteness of the affected villages and towns, and international and local media have been full of conflicting reports. The earthquake was the most powerful to hit the region in a century.
