Message of Sympathy for Indonesia

The Foreign Ministry in a message Monday sympathized with the people and government of Indonesia after  strong earthquakes that left scores of people dead and injured. Expressing sorrow over the loss in eastern Indonesia, Bahram Qasemi, the ministry spokesman expressed sympathy with families of the victims, IRNA reported. A powerful earthquake struck the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok, killing at least 98 people and more than 200 people injured. Thousands of homes and buildings were damaged. The magnitude-6.9 quake struck at a depth of 15 kilometers on Sunday evening in the northern part of Lombok, triggering a brief tsunami warning and damaging buildings. It was followed by aftershocks as strong as magnitude-5.4, ABC reported. Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency said thousands of houses were damaged, and most of those killed were hit by collapsed houses. The agency said 236 people were injured.