Japan is considering dispatching three Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) vessels to Thailand's resort island of Phuket to help search for people missing after Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis, the Defense Agency said Tuesday.
The Defense Agency and the Foreign Ministry are making final arrangements to have the three ships, including the Aegis-equipped destroyer Kirishima, which are on their way back from the Indian Ocean, head for waters off Phuket.
The MSDF vessels were in the Indian Ocean to help foreign naval vessels engaged in the US-led military operations in and near Afghanistan, mainly by refueling them.
Japan will also extend financial and food aid to devastated areas, in addition to emergency goods it announced Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.
The US$30 million, or 3.1 billion yen, emergency grant aid will go to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, the foreign minister said.
The government will provide 2,400 tons of rice worth about 53 million yen (US$509,000) to the devastated areas at the request of the World Food Program, Machimura said.