Earthquake of magnitude 6.3 jolts coast of British Columbia, no tsunami alert

Port Hardy, Dec 25: A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck a spot off the coast of British Columbia Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said.

At 8:36 pm, the earthquake hit a spot 182 kilometers (113 miles) west of Port Hardy, a town of about 4,100 people, the agency said.

It had a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles.) A tsunami is not expected, the National Tsunami Center in Alaska said. On Monday, a series of five earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 4.8 to 6.0 were recorded Monday in British Columbia.

The Seattle Times reports four of the five quakes were recorded as striking primarily on Vancouver Island and at the northern end of Victoria Island in Port Alice and Port Hardy, according to the government's Earthquakes Canada website.

According to the website, the quakes recorded Monday around Vancouver Island were: a magnitude 5.1 at 8:44 am; a magnitude 5.6 at 11:13 am; a magnitude 5.8 at 11:49 am; a magnitude 6.0 at 12:56 pm; and a magnitude 4.8 at 3:38 pm.

In addition, a 4.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 9:32 pm Monday at the Village of Queen Charlotte on Moresby Island, northwest of Victoria.