VANCOUVER -- An earthquake near Vancouver Island's west coast was felt in Victoria and as far away as the Lower Mainland Friday afternoon.
Earthquakes Canada's automatic detection registered the quake at magnitude 4.0, and described it as coming from the "Ucluelet region" at 1:35 p.m.
The U.S. National Weather Service recorded the quake as a 4.8 magnitude, and described the location as 130 miles southeast of Port Alice, B.C. - a location that roughly corresponds to the Ucluelet area.
The NWS said a tsunami was not expected.
Earthquakes Canada followed up its initial report with more details, amending the magnitude to 4.5 and describing the location as 29 kilometres south-southwest of Bamfield, B.C. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 38 kilometres, Earthquakes Canada said.
Twitter users reported feeling the quake in Nanaimo, Victoria, and in Metro Vancouver, from Tsawwassen to downtown to North Van.
Spencer Chandra Herbert, MLA for Vancouver's West End, was among the many who reported feeling the quake, posing the ubiquitous "did you feel that?" question to his followers, and following it up with a more pertinent one: "are you prepared for a big one?"
As of 1:55 p.m., no damage had been reported, and none would be expected in this situation, according to Earthquakes Canada.
Friday's earthquake is the second one with a magnitude higher than 4.0 recorded in B.C. in 2020. On Jan. 8, a quake of magnitude 4.8 was recorded off the Vancouver Island coast, but was not felt by anyone, according to Earthquakes Canada.
A sequence of eight earthquakes, ranging in magnitude from 3.6 to 6.2, were recorded in an area of the Pacific Ocean roughly 100 kilometres west of Vancouver Island between Dec. 23 and Dec. 25. None of those quakes were felt, either.
Friday's earthquake was significantly closer to shore than those eight incidents.