Print ArticleISN's immediate response to this latest quake - to strike the Indonesian island of Java - was to call once again on its Renal Disaster Task Force (RDRTF). Under the leadership of Dr. Raymond Vanholder, the Task Force acted rapidly by sending two scouts to join a team from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The two Task Force members Dr. Arjan van der Tol, Nephrologist, (who also participated in the Kashmir-Pakistan intervention in November 2005), and Mr. Stefaan Claus, Renal Nurse (who has participated in many relief interventions such as Marmara-Turkey, 1999; Bam- Iran, 2003 and Kashmir- Pakistan, 2005), left within just forty-eight hours of the disaster, joining four other MSF medical and paramedic specialists to volunteer aid to Asia.
Indonesia, located in the Pacific's "ring of fire" was the target of the latest devastating 6.2 Richter scale quake which struck at 05:54 local time, 22:53 GMT last Friday 26 May. Flattening a densely populated area south of the city of Yogyakarta, near the southern coast of Java, its path has claimed more than 3,000 people, with thousands more injured.
The disaster relief team left from Brussels 19:00, Sunday 28 May, reaching Jakarta the following day. Their immediate mission includes assessing the availability of both dialysis hardware and medical and paramedic staff in the area, as well as organizing screening for Acute Kidney Injury in non-nephrological Units, and administering fluids immediately after extrication.
First reports from the ground have been received from Prof. Dr. Sjabani, an Indonesian colleague in Yogyakarta, with a calculated 300-400 traumatized patients that have already been hospitalized in his Hospital. 27 of these patients are now suffering from Acute Kidney Injury.
For the time being further decisions concerning material or additional aid personnel will depend on information to follow via the scouts. The RDRTF has already received a generous offer from Australian colleagues via Dr. David Harris, Westmead, volunteering to provide on-call support.
ISN's Team will remain on the ground until further notice.
Source : International Society of Nephrology
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