Pakistani officials say international agencies are now estimating that the death toll from last month's massive earthquake is higher than 86,000 and may increase further.
Senior Finance Ministry officials said Tuesday the new figures are based on an assessment of the situation by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, working with local and international aid agencies.
But Pakistan's Federal Relief Commission has not yet revised its official death toll of 73,276, which was announced last week.
Meanwhile, top United Nations relief official Jan Egeland said his agency is planning to care for 350,000 people expected to come down from mountain areas for the winter. Speaking in Washington Monday, Mr. Egeland warned there is little time to deliver aid to earthquake survivors in remote areas before the onset of winter.
The 7.6-magnitude quake has left about three million people homeless. On Monday, Pakistan and India opened a crossing along their de facto border in Kashmir to exchange relief supplies.
Some information for this report prepared by Reuters, AP and AFP.
