A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Japan on Thursday near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, but did not cause any further problems at the power station, officials said.

The quake hit in the Pacific, 22 kilometres east of Iwaki in southern Fukushima, at 12:20 pm (0320 GMT) at a depth of nine kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. A tsunami was not expected, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, and there were no immediate reports of damage.