A Japanese exchange student who was sponsored by Ilkley Wharfedale Rotary Club has confirmed she is safe and well following the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Yuasha Yoshina, who lives on Japan’s North Island, has e-mailed the club’s international chairman David Mason to say she and her family are alive but suffering from the power cuts and food and petrol shortages sweeping the country.

A spokesman for the club said they had been anxiously awaiting news about the 21-year-old language student, who visited Ilkley last year and had a lot of friends in the area. She was a Rotary ambassadorial scholar who studied at Leeds University.

The Ilkley and Ilkey Wharfedale Rotary Clubs will be collecting at Tesco in Ilkley on Friday and Saturday to raise money for emergency equipment such as tents and water purification equipment.