11 August 2018•Update: 12 August 2018
By Aynur Ekiz
RIZE, Turkey
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday conveyed condolences to his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo over the recent earthquake that left over 350 people dead, presidential sources said.
Erdogan expressed sorrow over the losses in the tragedy on the phone with Widodo, said the sources on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
The death toll from Sunday’s earthquake that rocked eastern Indonesia has climbed to 387, according to local authorities on Friday.
Erdogan said Turkey stands by Indonesia in the testing times.
Turkey is also “ready to give every kind of support to Indonesia” in terms of search and rescue efforts and healing the wounds of the quake-hit people, the president noted.
A total of 1,477 people were also injured in the earthquake, while more than 156,000 people were evacuated to safe areas.
On Sunday, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake jolted the island of Lombok. The earthquake was centered northeast of the city of Mataram on Lombok island -- a popular tourist destination -- 15 kilometers under the surface, said the Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics.
