REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed deep sympathy to President Joko Widodo for the Sunday's Lombok earthquake killing at least 98 people in West Nusa Tenggara island. The island was hit by two major quakes in less than 10 days with the first on Sunday, July 29. The  death toll from the 6.4-magnitude earthquake has reached 20 as of Sunday (Aug 5).

"Prime Minister Abe prayed that the areas hit by the quake could recover immediately," a written statement issued by Japanese embassy here said on Tuesday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono also expressed similar sympathy to his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi. The Japanese government offered assistance needed by the Indonesian government.

"We also expressed our deepest sympathy for the relatives of the dead victims and pray for immediate recovery of injured victims and damaged areas," Kono said.

The quake with a magnitude of 7 on the Richter Scale rocked Lombok on Sunday night. The quake which was followed with a minor tsunami also caused extensive damage to property in Lombok mainly in the city of Mataram, and in neighboring island of Bali scaring many foreign tourists.

The government said there was no foreign tourist among the dead victims.

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