ISLAMABAD, Dec 31: The government is sending army medics and engineers to Indonesia and has ordered two naval ships to join relief efforts in Sri Lanka where devastation caused by tsunamis has created a humanitarian crisis , the foreign ministry said on Friday.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had asked authorities to step up relief assistance to Asian countries, the ministry's spokesman Masood Khan told AFP. "An army medical team, joined by army engineers and relief goods, including food, water, medicines and tents, is leaving for Indonesia," he said.

Medical and other relief staff will also travel to Sri Lanka on ships, he said. A three-member team had been despatched to Thailand's Phuket resort to participate in relief efforts, he said. Two navy ships that arrived in the Maldives the day before the disaster on a goodwill and training mission have pitched in to help.

Helicopters from the logistic supply ship Nasr dropped supplies to affected areas and evacuated 367 stranded locals and foreign tourists from an island on Mino atoll, the spokesman said. The frigate Tariq was dispatched to evacuate tourists and locals stranded on the atoll, "considered to be the worst hit area," he said. -AFP