WESTERN Australian engineers have left for the Maldives where they will work as part of an engineering team to check the structural safety of at least 80 schools in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami.
There are about 300 schools, of which 30 per cent were damaged beyond use.
The four-person team will be led by GHD’s Graeme Crookham, who said the first priority would be returning children to school.
"I would say that three to four weeks should enable us to accomplish the task," Dr Crookham said.
He said the team would work with government engineers in the Maldives.
Another member of the team, Emmanuel Sartitsis from Maunsell, said the team members had all received training from the Emergency Services Authority and expected to be able to tackle whatever difficulties they discovered on the island nation.
Logistics is one of the largest problems the team expects to face because the 80 schools it will be looking at are spread over up to 75 islands.