VOLUNTEERS from Dorset are doing their bit to help people caught up in the catastrophe in Japan.

A firefighter from Highcliffe is working in the earthquake-stricken north of the country with an international search and rescue team, while a Wimborne man could be sent at any moment to deliver survival kits.

Large areas of north eastern Japan have been left devastated after the earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale triggered a tsunami that swept cars and buildings before it last Friday.

Dave Webber, 60, from Wimborne, is on standby to fly to Japan with the ShelterBox charity to deliver survival kits containing a 10-man tent, stove, tools, and activities for children.

He has volunteered with the charity in disaster zones in Haiti and Madagascar and could travel to Japan if ShelterBox decides there is no threat to volunteers’ safety from damaged nuclear power stations.

“It’s really bad, particularly with the nuclear situation. A lot of the volunteers have families. It would be impossible to put them into a severe risk situation which probably exists at the moment in the north of the country,” said Mr Webber.

Wimborne Rotary Club has funded more than 100 ShelterBoxes in the last three years. Now the Rotary Club of Blandford has pumped £2,000 into a fund to buy three Shelterboxes and two AquaBoxes.

Five members of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, including Dave Heybourne, a family man from Highcliffe, are in Japan as part of the UK-International Search and Rescue team.

The UK-ISAR group has set up its base in a school near the city of Ofunato in , along with teams from the United States.

They are based in an area 20km outside of the city area that has been assessed as being completely safe from any further aftershocks or resultant tsunamis.