Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Strait, and from Washington by the Juan De Fuca Strait.

At least three earthquakes struck Canada's Vancouver Island on Tuesday, with the largest measured at magnitude 6 on the Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The other two aftershocks which came within 20 minutes of each other measured 4.5 and 4.9, according to Natural Resources Canada. No tsunami warnings were issued following the three shakers.

The biggest temblor of the three was very shallow, the USGS said, as it only measured 0.6 miles (965 meters) below the seabed. Its center was 131 miles (211 km) west of Port Hardy in British Columbia, which is far away from any major cities or towns.

EARTHQUAKE Mag=6.1 on 03 Sep at 13:19 PDT. Details : http://t.co/9V9PLhoKOj 211 km WSW of Bella Bella, BC 361 km SSW of Kitimat, BC

— Earthquakes Canada (@CANADAquakes) September 3, 2013

The other two lesser quakes were measured at a depth of more than 10 kilometres.

The three afternoon temblors are not expected to generate any tsunamis, the U.S. National Weather Service said.

There have been no reports of casualties or damages, Earthquake Canada said.

The centre of Vancouver Island contains high mountains, such as Mount Rosseau.