Canada shaken by four powerful quakes

At least four quakes struck Canada in quick succession on Monday .

A strong earthquake has hit PNG. Source: iStockphoto

Several powerful earthquakes have been reported near Vancouver Island, Canada, including a magnitude 6.8.

The epicenter of the first 6.6 tremor, at 10:39pm local time, was located 218 kilometres southwest of Port Hardy - a small municipality on the northeastern tip of British Columbia's Vancouver Island - and 355 miles northwest of Seattle.

The second stronger quake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, occurred near the Canadian town more than half an hour later, at 11:16pm local time.

Six minutes later, a third 6.5 magnitude tremor was registered  in the region, before a weaker 4.9 quake was recorded in the same place 14 minutes after that.

Geophysicist Amy Vaughan said the three larger quakes ranged from magnitude 6.5 to 6.8 and that there were possibly some smaller ones as well as some aftershocks.

Vaughan said the quakes were lightly felt onshore and that no injuries had been reported so far. 

The National Tsunami Warning Center tweeted that a tsunami is "not expected".