France has sent rescue teams to disaster-stricken Japan, the French Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Two detachments of civil defense and staff of the Crisis Center under the foreign ministry, composed of 116 persons, have been sent to Japan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in a regular press briefing, adding the French teams would arrive in Japan at 1410 GMT.

A powerful earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale and a resulting tsunami which hit Japan on Friday have caused heavy casualties and extensive damages. International assistance to Japan is one of the priority issues to be discussed here at the two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight from Monday to Tuesday.