Afghan-Pakistan quake death toll tops 350

Rescuers are today picking their way through rugged terrain and pockets of Taliban insurgency in the search for survivors after a massive quake hit Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing more than 350 people.

The toll was expected to rise as search teams reach remote areas that were cut off by Monday's powerful 7.5 magnitude quake, which triggered landslides and stampedes as it toppled buildings and severed communication lines.

A police official in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar told AFP they had not been able to get in touch with authorities in the district of Kohistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to see how its population of nearly half a million people had fared.

“There is no way to communicate with the officials in Kohistan, the communication system has been disrupted and roads blocked so we cannot say anything about the damage there,” the official told AFP.

“Around 80,000 people don't have access to clean drinking water and it's our top priority to restore the water supply,” he said. (AFP)