Tsunami warningJapan's Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning on Wednesday after an earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 8.1 hit the Kuril islands north of Japan.
The quake struck about 390 kilometres east (240 miles) of the Russia-controlled Etorofu island at 1115 GMT, according to the agency.
A tsunami of about 2 metres (6.5 feet) or more could hit the Pacific coasts of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido after 1759 (IST), and smaller waves could hit the country's main island of Honshu, the agency said.
An official from Shibetsu on Hokkaido, Kiyoshi Takimoto, told public broadcaster NHK that about 4,000 of the town's 6,100 residents lived along the coast and had been told to flee to higher ground.
http://www.ndtv.com/environment/earthquake.asp?id=20743&callid=0
Tsunami warning for BC has been negated.