No word from Sendai student

Wanganui High School is concerned for the safety of a Japanese student expected to start at the school later this month, in the wake of Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Naoya Sasaki, 17, who was to join Wanganui High School on March 21, lives in the coastal city of Sendai, which bore the brunt of last week's disaster. Television images showed the city being overwhelmed by the tsunami, and neighbouring towns being washed away.
Wanganui High School's director of international students, Robert Lakeland, said he had been trying to reach Naoya but communication was almost impossible. "We remain hopeful he's all right, but we are very concerned," he said.
Naoya, who is from a family of five, had been planning to finish his secondary schooling in Wanganui and hoped to become a primary school teacher. In his application to the school, he had written of his dream to speak English fluently and to take part in club and sport activities, for which there were only limited opportunities in his homeland. He had also said he wanted to learn more about New Zealand and its culture.
Mr Lakeland said nine Japanese students at Wanganui High School had said family members back home were safe, but they were shocked by the enormity of the tragedy.
Meanwhile, Wanganui Collegiate has three Japanese students, all of whom are from cities well away from the disaster zones. "They have been in contact with their parents and everything is fine," a school spokesman said.
Yukie Oki, 24, a Japanese teacher at Wanganui Girls' College, said footage of the tsunami was "so scary". "I thought it must have been a movie."
She said a friend who lived in Sendai had fled the city before the tsunami hit. Ms Oki hails from Osaka, which is some distance from the worst-hit areas.