video http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709856

A massive earthquake has hit the north-east of Japan, triggering a tsunami and a huge whirlpool.
The tsunami warning was extended to the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Pacific coast of Russia and Hawaii.
Dramatic footage of the whirlpool was taken by a helicopter, as the BBC’s Humphrey Hawksley explains.