Japan, in its first deployment of troops to Indonesia since World War II, has been performing emergency medical work since Jan. 19 but says the SDF' activities are now officially in full swing in Aceh, where the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster left some 100,000 people dead or missing.

"Today, we are at full strength in the field," Maj. Kenichi Igawa told reporters after 60 members of the SDF, including doctors, nurses and medics, came into Banda Aceh by helicopter from Japanese ships offshore.

The event was marked by a raising of the Japanese and Indonesian flags at a soccer field in the city, where the SDF has set up a half dozen tents and a field clinic.

There are nearly 1,000 SDF personnel in Aceh or on three ships offshore in its largest disaster relief mission since the war.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 5, 2005
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