TORONTO -- For the ninth time in three days, an earthquake has rattled off the B.C. coast.
The 4.9-magnitude earthquake is the latest in a recent cluster, and occurred 198 kilometres west of Port Hardy, B.C. just after 12:30 p.m. PST on Christmas Day.
A smaller earthquake measuring 3.6-magnitude was recorded in waters 153 kilometres west of Port Alice, B.C., at 8: 25 a.m. PST earlier in the day.
A previous 6.2-magnitude earthquake was also in the waters west of Port Hardy and occurred just after 7:30 p.m. PST on Christmas Eve. All three recent earthquakes were registered at a depth of five kilometres, according to Earthquakes Canada.
In a bulletin, the agency stated that a tsunami isn't expected and no reports of damage have been made.
A total of six earthquakes rattled off the B.C. coast on Monday.
John Cassidy, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resource Canada, said the area is part of a region of the Pacific Ocean known as the “Ring of Fire” due to its frequent earthquakes.
“This is actually one of the most seismically active zones in all of Canada-- off the northern tip of Vancouver Island,” he told CTV News.
“It is not that unusual to see a cluster of earthquakes, or a swarm of earthquakes, that will continue for some time.”
This isn’t the only time the coast of British Columbia has been hit with an earthquake over the holiday season.
In December 2015, a 4.7-magnitude quake shook people from their sleep all along the southern coast of the province.
