TOKYO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan will dispatch some 50 members of its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to the earthquake-stricken Indonesia to assist disaster relief, local news report said.

    The Japanese Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga issued a dispatch order on Wednesday, Kyodo News said, quoting agency officials.

    The team, with medical staff included, is scheduled to leave for the quake-hit area on Thursday.

    Earlier in the day, an advance team consisting of 20 members from the defense agency and the SDF's Joint Staff Office had arrived in the quake-hit province of Yogyakarta in Indonesia.

    After the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Japan dispatched some 900 troops to Indonesia to assist in relief efforts.

    Over 5,800 people died in a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, which hit Indonesia's Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java province on Saturday. The quake also left more than 10,000 others injured and up to 200,000 people homeless. Enditem