Three powerful earthquakes struck late Sunday off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, near Vancouver Island, the U.S. Geological Survey is reporting.
According to the USGS, the first quake – magnitude 6.6 – hit about 10:39 p.m. PDT about 135 miles (218 kilometers) southwest of Port Hardy, Canada. It occurred at a depth of about 6.8 miles (11 kilometers).
Less than 40 minutes later, a second quake with a recorded magnitude of 6.8 struck nearby, about 122 miles (197 kilometers) southwest of Port Hardy. It occurred at a depth of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers.)
A third 6.5-magnitude quake was reported at 11:22 p.m. PDT about 138 miles (223 kilometers) southwest of Port Hardy. Its depth was also about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).
No damage or tsunami warnings have been reported.
The earthquakes hit the Canadian province of British Columbia, near Vancouver Island.
The quakes were reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at 6.30am BST.
The first earthquake struck off at 6.39am BST, while the second one went off at the same location at 7.16am BST.
The epicentre of the first tremor struck at a depth of 21 miles about 117 miles southwest of Port Hardy, a town on the northeast end of Vancouver island.
And the second quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale occurred 135 miles southwest of Port Hardy.
Six minutes later, a third 6.5 magnitude tremor was registered 138 miles southwest of Port Hardy — before a weaker 4.9 quake was recorded in the same place 14 minutes after that.
So far no tsunami warning has been issued.
There have been no reports of damage or deaths related to the quake so far.
However, some have reported they felt light shaking in some areas.
The affected region is located near the Cascadia subduction zone.
The Cascadia subduction zone is an almost 700 mile-long convergent plate boundary that stretches from northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino in California.
Subduction Zone earthquakes are the largest earthquakes in the world and are the only zone that can produce quakes greater than magnitude 8.5.
The Cascadia Subduction Zone has produced magnitude 9.0 or greater earthquakes in the past, and undoubtedly will in the future.
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