Dozens Killed In India Quake

An earthquake shook central India before dawn today, killing at least 25 people and injuring 150, officials and local news agencies reported.

The area is about 400 miles southeast of New Delhi.

The seismological observatory in New Delhi said the 6.0-magnitude quake hit at 4:22 a.m. near Jabalpur, a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

The region is quake-prone: In 1993, an earthquake about 350 miles southwest of Jabalpur killed about 10,000 people.

Madhya Pradesh state Interior Secretary D.S. Mathur said at least 18 people were killed and 150 were hospitalized. United News of India news agency said the quake last about 10 seconds and that at least 25 were killed.

Rescue officials were searching the debris for other victims, Mathur said. Damage was limited because most of the houses in the city, which has a defense factory and the state supreme court, are solidly built of brick and mortar, he said in a telephone interview.