Huge whirlpool created after Japan quake

11 March 2011 Last updated at 04:49 ET Help

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.

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