JABALPUR, May 22: Large areas of central Madhya Pradesh, especially Jabalpur, were rocked by an earthquake that jolted people out of their beds at 4.22 am today. Assessment of the extent of the devastation kept changing as the day wore on but some 16 hours after the quake, which registered an intensity of 6.0 on the Richter scale, hit the Narmada basin, it had left at least 40 people dead, injured over 1,000 and rendered thousands of them homeless.

Jabalpur city and its outskirts, from where all the deaths were reported so far, bore the brunt of the powerful tremors. The epicentre of the calamity lay at Kosamghat, some 20 km southeast of Jabalpur.

Among the city's worst-hit localities were Madan Mahal, Gopalpur, Shahpura, Aadhartaal, Ranjhi, Dhamapur and Barela (rural).

Within an hour of the first and most devastating of the strike, a mild tremor was felt and another surfaced around 9 am. More than 12 hours later, many residents of the affected areas continued to suffer from collective claustrophobia: Fear of renewed tremors kept most of them outside their homes till late this evening.

It was clear that residents of Jabalpur and its outskirts would sleep most fearfully for the next few days.

Most of the dead were victims of roof collapses under the impact of the quake, rescue workers said. A significant number of the injured were persons who panicked when their homes swayed under the impact of the tremors and they jumped out of balconies. One nurse at the Medical College Hospital here said her home ``swung like a pendulum'' when the first of the tremors hit the area. ``It lasted a scant 20 seconds but they seemed like 20 hours as we were virtually tossed off our beds and were trying to grab any form of support within reach to stay on our feet,'' she said.

Joginder Singh, an intern at the same hospital, was wide awake when the room he was studying in shuddered during those 20 cataclysmic minutes. Terrified, he leapt out of his second floor balcony and was a couple of hours later on the hospital bed, recuperating from multiple fractures of his legs.

In Victoria Hospital, Jabalpur's second biggest after the one at the medical college, traumatised victims recounted more or less the same story of being rudely woken up only to slip into a nightmare that was very real and palpable.

Throughout the day, rescue workers -- some official but mostly voluntary -- were hardpressed as they rummaged through heaps of the rubble. There was scarcely a building in the area today that did not bear scary tell-tale marks of the catastrophe caused by the convulsion. Twelve buildings collapsed in a heap like a punch-drunk prizefighter. The slightly luckier ones survived tenuously with huge, gaping holes caused by a wall collapse or two. Yet others bore ghastly cracks that was a grim reminder of the fact that the devastation could have been a lot worse.

Mandla district, which adjourns Jabalpur, too was badly affected. The impact of the earthquake cut a swathe, with less and varying degrees of intensity, through several other cities of Madhya Pradesh, including Bhopal, Chhindwara, Seoni, Sagar, Durg, Ujjain, Bundelkhand, Rewa and Satna. Nagpur city and its adjoining areas in neighbouring Maharashtra too were jolted.

Reports of tremors being felt also came in from distant Delhi and neighbouring areas of western Orissa, such as Rourkela and Sambalpur. The authorities in Jabalpur mounted a massive relief and rescue operation in the affected areas where telecommunication and electricity supply were seriously disrupted by the quake.

Government hospitals and private clinics in and around the city were flooded with the injured and wailing relatives.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh broke off from his electioneering in Bhojpur Assembly by-election and rushed here. He has announced financial compensation of Rs 1 lakh for each of the dead and smaller amounts for the injured and those who were rendered homeless.The last major quake in the region was recorded on May 27, 1846, with a magnitude of 6.5, that is 0.5 higher on the Richter scale than the one that occurred this morning. In the intervening period, three minor quakes were recorded in the area.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.