A POWERFUL undersea earthquake prompted tsunami warnings yesterday for Japan and Russia but the danger appeared to pass after a series of tiny waves hit the northern Japanese coast.

Japan issued a tsunami alert today and told Pacific coast residents to flee to higher ground after a powerful earthquake hit off sparsely populated islands between northern Japan and the Russian Far East.

Rescuers armed with power saws hacked through the ice near Russia’s far eastern territories today in a desperate bid to save the lives of four killer whales thrashing about in confined holes in the freezing Sea of Okhotsk.