Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill will visit the tsunami-hit Banda Aceh of Indonesia next Monday to inspect his country's disaster relief work.
He is expected to visit an Australian army field hospital in Aceh and meet the Indonesian Army's commander of relief operations in Sumatra, Bambang Darmono.
Meanwhile, a large navy transport ship, the HMAS Kanimbla is expected to arrive at Banda Aceh at the weekend, carrying engineering staff.
"Until now our focus has been the provision of life-essential needs of the Tsunami survivors such as food, water and medical support. The arrival of the engineering detachment on board the Kanimbla means that we can now start providing reconstruction solutions for the longer term," Hill said.
He was quoted in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio as saying on Friday that there will be around 1,000 Australian military staff participating in the disaster relief work in the region.
Hill said this is Australian army's largest humanitarian-like operation in recent years.
(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2005)
