FROM the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leaks in Japan, it might be assumed that there would be looting and fighting for food but it did not happen.

We in the Lions Clubs have been sending financial and more practical assistance to our sister clubs in Japan in order to help those in peril and have been constantly updated regarding progress.

The people who have suffered have stayed calm. Orderly queues for food and water have been formed. Not a rough word or gesture has been seen.

People bought only what they needed so that others would not go short.

No looting of shops or homes took place, just understanding. Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the reactors and risked radiation. How will they ever be repaid?

Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM was left alone, no-one stole from it.

The strong cared for the weak. The media showed restraint in the bulletins.

When the power went off in the stores, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly.

It would be nice to think that if a similar catastrophe befell this country, then we would behave in the same dignified way. We can be certain that the Japanese Lions Clubs would come to our aid as they did in the Cumbrian floods and many other world disasters.

BARRY COLLINS Birchwood Lions Club