ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: More than 30, 000 people have been killed, thousands more left homeless and dozens of villages have been wiped out by Saturday's huge earthquake in Pakistan and the death toll is climbing time to time.

Azad Kashmir's works and communication minister Tariq Farooq said on Sunday: “Our rough estimates say more than 30,000 people have died in the earthquake in Kashmir” alone.

“There are cities, there are towns which have been completely destroyed. Muzaffarabad is devastated,” he added, referring to the capital of Azad Kashmir.

Bodies lay in the streets and villagers pulled debris from collapsed schools and mud-brick homes with their bare hands on Sunday, desperate to find survivors from the 7.6-magnitude quake that struck Pakistan and India.

The quake that struck the mountainous Kashmir region flattened dozens of villages, killing farmers, homemakers, soldiers and schoolgirls, and triggered landslides that blocked rescuers from reaching many devastated areas.

The US Geological Survey reported 22 aftershocks in the 24 hours after the quake, including a 6.2-magnitude temblor.

Injured people covered by shawls lay in the street, waiting for medical care. Residents carried bodies on wooden planks.

India reported at least 360 people killed and 900 injured when the quake collapsed houses and other buildings in Held Kashmir. Afghanistan reported one death.