Two moderate earthquakes struck off Japan's eastern coast near Fukushima in the early hours on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, predicting a low chance of any major damage being caused. The epicentre of the first quake, with a magnitude measuring 5.7, was located some 91 kilometres (56 miles) off the coast of Honshu, Japan's largest and most populated island, at a depth of 22 kilometres shortly after 3am local time (2330 IST Sunday).

A second, 5.6-magnitude quake struck two hours later slightly closer to shore at a depth of 39 kilometres. Cities nearest to the epicentre included Iwaki, Kitaibaraki, Namie and Hitachi, USGS said. The same coastline was struck by a devastating quake and subsequent tsunami in 2011 that killed more than 18,000 people and sparked a meltdown at the Fukushima power plant - the world's worst nuclear accident in a generation.

USGS data magnitude 5.6
USGS data magnitude 5.7