French Junior Minister of Cooperation, Development and Francophonie Xavier Darcos will attend an extraordinary ASEAN summit on Thursday over the tsunami disaster, French Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday.

Darcos "will review France's efforts in favor of the stricken countries and reiterate its intention to contribute with its partners to rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in these countries," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said.

Ladsous also noted that France has sent some hundred of rescuers and delivered more than 60 tons of humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka, and sent 85 rescuers with 70 tons of aid to Indonesia.

According to the spokesman, France will focus its efforts on Meulaboh (Indonesia), one of the cities closest to the epicenter of the earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra and triggered the most deadly tsunamis on December 26, hitting India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and four other Asian countries and killing at least 145,000 people.

A French field hospital should be up and running in the Meulaboh area by Thursday, Ladsous added.

He also said the two ships that France sent to the Indian Ocean for relief mission, the helicopter carrier Jeanne d'Arc and the anti-submarine frigate Georges Leygues, would arrive in Indonesia mid-January with 18 doctors, some 60 engineers, as well as 8,000 food rations, 800 tons of water and water treatment equipment, five tons of medicine and field medical posts.

Source: Agencies