Russia declares emergency on tsunami-hit islands

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photograph: Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin / AP)
Authorities in Russia’s Far Eastern Sakhalin region declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in the northern Kuril Islands after tsunami waves caused flooding and damaged several buildings.

“A state of emergency has been declared in the North Kuril District, where an earthquake and tsunami occurred today,” the Sakhalin regional government said in a statement.