Trócaire, the Catholic Development Agency, is to send two workers from its emergency department to Sri Lanka as part of the international emergency response to the earthquake crisis.
Ms Vicky Tindal from Donegal and Ms Deirdre Ní Cheallaigh from Dublin will be part of an international emergency team made up of representatives from a number of European NGOs. They will work alongside Trócaire's local partners in the Caritas Internationalis network.
Trócaire said it is also working alongside Caritas India's emergency response which has 86 centres established in schools and churches throughout the country.
These centres are providing essential food, blankets, clothing and medical care to over 100,000 people. The emergency response also includes the vital work of body disposal in order to prevent further deaths through disease, Trócaire said.
Ms Mary Healy, head of emergency with the aid organisation, said: "The scale of the disaster in Sri Lanka is absolutely massive. Not only are our local partners in Caritas Sri Lanka dealing with their own grief and personal loss they are working day and night against all sorts of logistical problems trying to establish a co-ordinated and efficient emergency relief programme for the millions of people suffering from trauma and hunger."
"We are sending out two highly qualified staff members from our emergency team to complete the ongoing needs assessment of the situation so we can continue to provide the most vulnerable people with effective and targeted emergency aid."
Ms Healy said one of the worst affected regions is Aceh in Indonesia, where up to 100,000 people have died.
She said Trócaire staff will travel to Acech in the coming days to work alongside its local partners on the ground who are distributing essential emergency aid.
Trócaire has received nearly €250,000 in recent days from the Irish public. Ms Healy said the response had been "overwhelming". The donations will be added to the half million euro the organisation has already allocated to the emergency, which means thousands of families will be provided with vital food and clothing, Ms Healy said.
Donations to Trócaire's emergency appeal can be made by phoning the 1850 408408 Callsave number or online at www.trocaire.org