A WEYMOUTH man who was in Tokyo when the Japanese earthquake and tsunami hit has said thank you to Echo readers for their generosity.

Simon Litster, 55, who moved to Yokohama in 1995, said he commended those who have donated to the relief appeal.

The Dorset Echo launched an appeal in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed tens of thousands of people and left 250,000 homeless.

We joined forces with the charity Shelterbox, which supplies emergency shelter and provisions to victims of natural disasters and those displaced by conflict, and have received more than £8,800 from our readers.

Mr Litster, who grew up in Knightsdale Road in Weymouth, works as a financial consultant in Tokyo and was visiting a friend in hospital in the Japanese capital when the natural disaster struck.

The former Hardye’s School pupil, who has two Japanese children aged 13 and nine, said: "It was quite scary when it happened.

"I was on the 18th floor of a hospital and the whole building started to shake and it got worse and worse - it was rocking probably 20ft in both directions.

"I was holding on to the door frame - you couldn't stand up.

"People were panicking, some were screaming.

"There was stuff flying off the shelves."

But Mr Litster described how out on the streets the people were oddly calm and orderly which he described as 'very Japanese'.

He said: "It was only when I got home and I switched on the TV that I realised there had been a tsunami."

Mr Litster, who has been in Weymouth for the past week, added: "It's great that the whole world has been thinking of Japan.

"It's incredible that people all over the world can have the thought and compassion for something when disaster hits - it says a lot about human nature.

"I would commend the readers of the Echo and anyone else who has donated to the relief effort."

Businesses and individuals sent in cheques ranging from £5 to £1,000 and Rotary Clubs in the area have also raised thousands of pounds for Shelterbox through street collections.