The Organization of the European Renal Disaster Relief Task Force

LNTRODUCT CONCrush injury induced acute renal failure (ARF) with traumatic rhabdomyolysis is a major and frequent complication when earthquakes occur in urban regions with multistory stone or concrete buildings.The highly destructive earthquake in Armenia (December 7, 1988) and the equally devastating earthquake in Iran (June 21, 1990) have caused a worldwide humanitarian relief response and stimulated various organizations to initiate plans to deal with future natural disasters.Experience in the Armenian earthquake has shown that poorly organized relief efforts result in a chaotic influx of people and material that overloads available distribution systems and interferes with the transport of necessary supplies.This often causes what the press call a "second disaster.