Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainEarthquake risk in Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley runs 18 times the typical Canadian town’s: $0.55 per $1,000 a year
Wildfire is rare near Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley: 0.3% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.008% a year. In Health Canada’s survey, just 0.9% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #128 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,643 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley: 0.8% within 5 km, 0.3% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley fire takes 0.008% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The nearer ring around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley is less wooded (61% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (72%).
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in British Columbia · highest of 255
In the upper half in British Columbia but far from Oliver (0.98%): Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley ranks 104th of 255, at 0.008% a year.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Some fire is mapped around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 7.5% rank higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley
Flood studies whose area touches Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley is not yet one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s homes stand in a flood zone.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Shaking is Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s costliest hazard: $0.55 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s $0.55 is about 18.5 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.55, Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley is above the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan has the most at $1.33.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley: 1% of them.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The model counts damage to Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley: 0.9% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s survey area reads 0.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Central Vancouver Island health region, Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley has fewer high tests: 0.9%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley | Low | $0.55 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Ladysmith 9,926 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.74 | 0.9% | None listed |
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo 7,825 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.54 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area G, Cowichan Valley 2,597 · 9.4 km | Low | $0.52 | 0.9% | Yes |
| Electoral Area B, Nanaimo 4,702 · 16 km | Low | $0.39 | 0.9% | None listed |
The fire record around Electoral Area B, Nanaimo is a touch heavier than Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley faces
Practical steps for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley
Does Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s band is low, with 0.3% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley?
About $0.55 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley?
0.9% of the 109 homes Health Canada tested around Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Electoral Area H, Cowichan Valley grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).