VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic agency said it had been informed by Japanese authorities that no problems had been detected at nuclear power plants in the region nearest to the epicenter of Friday's earthquake.

A 7.3 magnitude quake centered off northeastern Japan shook buildings as far away as Tokyo and triggered a one-meter tsunami in an area devastated by last year's Fukushima disaster, but there were no reports of deaths or serious damage.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its Incident and Emergency Centre had been in contact with Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) "to collect information about the status of ... nuclear power plants that could be affected".

"Nuclear power plants in the region nearest to the epicenter of the earthquake have reported to NRA that they have detected no trouble, and that no emergency measures have been activated," Gill Tudor, a spokeswoman for the Vienna-based U.N. agency, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Pravin Char)