All employees are safe at Tokyo-based recruitment firm Wahl & Case in the wake of the earthquake that hit Japan late last week, according to managing director Michael J Case.

Wahl & Case, with its 11 employees, is based in Tokyo. Case told Recruiter:“Our families and employees are safe. All the clients and candidates we have managed to reach in the past two days are accounted for.”

All 11 employees were in the central Tokyo office when the earthquake hit. Case says: “Most of us drove home together as far as we could before ditching the car and walking the rest; up to eight or nine miles for some, though friends from my former firm (Apple Japan) walked nearly 20.

“We are seeing a lot of unnecessary panic in Tokyo, with hoarding of food and consumables, including toilet paper, rice, nappies and petrol, especially now with the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“A lot of the media reporting is not helping, with the typical focus on sensational news over fact, and the ‘twitterscape’ tends to exacerbate the situation; there are a lot of rumours flowing about … It seems that many foreign executives have abandoned their local Japanese staff and certain embassies are adding to the panic.”

Case adds that US Ambassador Roos “has been rock solid through this”.

“All of which is causing a big distraction from the situation up north where hundreds of thousands of survivors are trying to get through cold days and nights without basic necessities.”