Strong 8.9 earthquake rocks Japan, tsunami hits North East

Follow latest updates at twitter.com and www.facebook.com A large tsunami is sweeping through north-eastern Japan, following an earthquake thought to have been 8.9 on the Richter Scale. The first wave has also reached Russia's Kuril islands to the north, reportedly around a metre high. 11-thousand people are being evacuated from the area. In northern Japan, water is surging inland in Sed-ay, some 350km north of Tokyo. There's considerable damage and many casualties - although numbers can't be confirmed because communications are badly-affected. Several people are missing. The lower floors of buildings on Honshu island are being flooded and cars overturned. A bridge has also collapsed. Tokyo's Norita International Airport has also closed. The quake's epicenter was located 130 kilometres off Japan's Pacific coast. A tsunami warning's now in place across the entire Pacific region.