A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Japan on Sunday, but a nuclear plant that was crippled by a huge quake and tsunami in March remained stable, officials said.

The quake hit at Ibaraki, 136 kilometres (84 miles) east of Tokyo and just south of Fukushima, at 10:23 am (0123 GMT) with its depth at 24.7 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's eastern North Maluku province on Monday, meteorologists said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, and no tsunami alert.

The quake occurred at 11.05 am (0405 GMT) with an epicentre 69 kilometres (42 miles) southwest of Labuha city, the Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometres.

A strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck in waters off Okinawa island today, but there were no concerns about a tsunami, the US and Japanese agencies said.

A fairly strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 has hit off the shores of Japan's southern Okinawa Island.

Highlighting the safety features of the Koodankulam nuclear plant, former President A.P.J Abdul Kalam today said even a Fukushima-like accident can be avoided in the coastal project in Tamil Nadu.

In a bid to provide protection to vital installations along the Gujarat coastline, the State Government has undertaken a project to study how coastal vegetation could help in mitigating the impact

The Centre’s expert committee, set up to allay the fears of locals over the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) will meet today.

Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, R. Chidambaram, on Friday sought to allay fears over the safety of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, saying it was absolutely risk-free and designed to be safe from calamities including tsunami.

Earthquakes claimed more than 780,000 lives in the past decade, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of all disaster-related deaths, according to a study published in The Lancet on Friday.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) yesterday asked Japan's government for a reported $13 billion to help pay compensation for the Fukushima nuclear disaster which was caused by a massive tsunami