A file photo shows a seismologist pointing to a graph tracking the magnitude of an earthquake.FABRIZIO BENSCH/Reuters
A magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck off the British Columbia coast Wednesday night, rattling some homes in a remote community but causing no injuries or major damage.
The U.S.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the earthquake hit just after 6 p.m. local time, about 136 kilometres southwest of Port Alice, a community of about 800 people on northern Vancouver Island.
The agency also said the quake was recorded at a depth of about 43.5 kilometres, and no subsequent tsunami was expected.
Kevin Cameron, the emergency co-ordinator in Port Alice, said he didn't feel the quake.
But Andrea Vance, a resident of Winter Harbour, B.C., a remote community on the west coast of northern Vancouver Island, said she did and was sitting in a chair in a bedroom when the rattling began.
"I thought it was my dog, sitting beside the chair and scratching or something and then realized that actually the chair was shaking," said Vance. "It went on for about 15 or 20 seconds or so."
Ms. Vance said less than 20 people live in the village located about 120 kilometres west of Port Alice, and she doesn't think the earthquake damaged the house or any other local structure.
"Nothing at all. It was just a good little shake for about 15 or 20 seconds and that's it."
The West Coast continues to experience aftershocks following a magnitude-7.7 quake that struck Haida Gwaii on Oct. 27.
Nobody was injured in that incident but the shaking managed to turn off the taps of some natural hot springs.
On Sunday, a magnitude-5.2 quake was recorded 90 kilometres southeast of Sandspit, on Haida Gwaii.