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5.8 quake strikes off western Canadian coast

  • Story Highlights
  • Epicenter is almost 300 miles west-northwest of Vancouver
  • About two dozen quakes with magnitude 4 or above have hit area in past 48 hours
  • Victoria is main city of Vancouver Island
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(CNN) -- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck at sea just west of Vancouver Island, Canada, on Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The temblor's epicenter was about 95 miles (153 kilometers) west-southwest of Port Hardy, British Columbia, and about 293 miles (472 kilometers) west-northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia.

It struck at 5:37 a.m. (8:37 a.m. ET), the USGS said, and hit at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).

The USGS originally reported the quake at 6.1 magnitude.

Thursday's quake was the latest of about two dozen temblors of magnitude 4 or above to strike in the area in the past 48 hours, according to the USGS. A 5.2-magnitude quake was the largest of those, striking the same area Wednesday.

"We're having a series in that area," Julie Martinez, a USGS geophysicist said. She said the number of earthquakes was not unusual.

"These earthquakes are too far offshore to be felt on land and too small to generate a tsunami," Natural Resources Canada said on its earthquakes Web site.

Vancouver Island sits off Canada's west coast. Its main city of Victoria sits at its southern end.

All About CanadaNatural DisastersEarthquakesU.S. Geological Survey

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