Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo highlighted the need to lay greater focus on services offered to tourists vacationing in Lombok after the earthquake hit on Sunday, August 5, 2018.

The president made the statement after reviewing the Asian Games XVIII-2018 Infrastructure Readiness at the Asian Games Venue TMII Jakarta on Monday, considering the large number of tourists in the earthquake-affected areas in Lombok.

"There are several tourists in that province," the president noted.

Hence, he has advised the coordinating minister for politics and security as well as the related officials to provide best possible services to tourists.

"I ordered the coordinating minister to ensure that tourists receive best possible services," he remarked.

The president noted that some important aspects were related to flights disrupted after the earthquake.

"This is especially about flight routes since we saw that several flight schedules were delayed last night," he remarked.

State-Apparatuses Empowerment and Reforms Minister Arief Yahya had earlier activated the Crisis Center Team of the Tourism Ministry to monitor latest developments in the earthquake that had struck Lombok.

Based on the BMKG information, the earthquake that had struck on Sunday, August 5, 2018, at 6:46 Western Indonesian Time was centered at 8.37 degrees South Latitude and 116.48 degrees East Longitude, with a magnitude of 7.0 SR, at a depth of 15 kilometers (km), 27 km away northeast of North Lombok.

At least 82 people were killed on Sunday when Indonesia`s resort island of Lombok was hit by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake.

The powerful quake triggered panic among tourists and residents and was felt in the neighboring island of Bali. In Lombok, thousands fled their homes to gather in emergency shelters in open spaces, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency stated.

On July 29, some tourist destinations on the island province was hit by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake, the authorities have stated.

The quake struck at 6:47 a.m. local time (2347 BST), and its epicenter was located 50 km north-east of the city of Mataram, with a population of 319 thousand.

Reporting by Hanni Sofia
Editing by Eliswan

Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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