QUEEN CHARLOTTE CITY, B.C. — Billy Yovanovich was about to rise from bed when his house started trembling from a powerful earthquake on British Columbia's north coast.
"I was just waking up and my dog, actually, I think heard it coming, and she started shuffling around," he said. "It shook me up."
The 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Haida Gwaii region approximately 167 km southeast of the Village of Queen Charlotte at about 7 a.m. Friday.
No damage or injuries were immediately reported. The National Tsunami Warning Centre said a tsunami was not expected to result from the quake, which struck about 10 km under the surface.
Yovanovich, the chief councillor of Skidegate Band Council — a Haida community located about 8 km from the village — said the shaking only lasted for seconds.
He has previously felt gusty winds rattle his house just like Friday's quake. But although it felt minor, the community is still on edge after a massive earthquake in the area three years ago.
"A lot of people are still quite anxious, still traumatized, over that major one," he said. "It really throws people off even with these smaller ones."
The Skidegate community has an emergency preparedness team that has developed tsunami routes and other emergency responses, Yovanovich said.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Haida Gwaii in October 2012 was the second-largest quake measured in Canadian history.
Experts studying that trembler have said the Pacific archipelago of Haida Gwaii is the likely location of a future large quake and tsunami, with increased pressure immediately south of the islands along the Queen Charlotte Fault.
