AN air hostess from Bournemouth was caught in Japan’s tallest building during the earthquake, as people screamed in terror amidst shattering glass.

Holly Jenkins, from Hengistbury Head, who works for BA, was on an overnight stop in Haneda when the huge 8.9 magnitude struck near the country’s north east coast.

The 21-year-old was staying in the Yokohama Royal Park and said: “I’ve never been so scared in my life.

“I ran down 57 flights of stairs because the whole hotel was swaying and making noises, glass was smashing, walls were cracking, even Japanese people were screaming and crying.”

Holly, a former Palm Air employee, had been asleep in the hotel at the time.

She stood under the door frame for safety with another member of staff until the swaying eased off before making her escape.

Her dad Alvin Jenkins, 61, a member of the Daily Echo’s property advertising team, said: “We had a long wait until we knew she was okay, for sure.

“It was quite a relief.”

He said British Airways said none of the staff in the hotel were injured.

The earthquake was 8,000 times more powerful than the one which killed 166 people in Christchurch in New Zealand last month.

Television pictures showed walls of water over 13ft high swamping vast areas of low-lying farmland with motorists racing to escape the deluge.

“Our initial assessment indicate that there has already been enormous damage,” a government spokesman said.

In downtown Tokyo - around 250 miles away from where the earthquake hit - large buildings shook violently and hundreds of workers poured into the streets for safety.

• For lots more coverage on Japan, see this weekend's Daily Echo.