Earthquakes are East Saanich 2’s biggest hazard: $0.81 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 27 times the norm
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of East Saanich 2’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.001% a year). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.8% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives East Saanich 2 a grade of C+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about East Saanich 2’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for East Saanich 2: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What East Saanich 2 faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in East Saanich 2: C+
For East Saanich 2, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near East Saanich 2: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where East Saanich 2’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
At 0.001% of the land a year, East Saanich 2’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of East Saanich 2’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 10 km off.
The nearer ring around East Saanich 2 is less wooded (21% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (65%).
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 256
Some fire is mapped around East Saanich 2 (0.001% a year), but it ranks only 239th of 256 towns in British Columbia; Oliver has 0.98%.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, East Saanich 2 reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
East Saanich 2 is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Capital Regional District
Flood studies whose area touches East Saanich 2, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching East Saanich 2 is Capital Regional District’s, dated 2021; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Regional Coastal Flood Inundation Mapping Project | Capital Regional District | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, East Saanich 2 included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for East Saanich 2.
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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
High seismic risk in East Saanich 2: $0.81 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
East Saanich 2’s $0.81 is about 27 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
Above the middle in British Columbia: East Saanich 2’s $0.81 against a median of $0.36, with Duncan highest 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.
East Saanich 2 is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 0.3% rank higher.
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 East Saanich 2’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).
1.8% of homes tested around East Saanich 2 are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
East Saanich 2’s area, at 1.8%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high. Nobody publishes radon tests for East Saanich 2 alone, so this card uses the figure for the South Vancouver Island health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around East Saanich 2, 1.8% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts East Saanich 2 with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in East Saanich 2 as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for East Saanich 2
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for East Saanich 2; 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. |
For fires near East Saanich 2, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around East Saanich 2
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Saanich 2 | Low | $0.81 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Central Saanich 18,184 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.86 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Sidney 13,445 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.76 | 1.8% | Yes |
| North Saanich 12,986 · 9.2 km | Low | $0.73 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Highlands 2,753 · 11 km | Low | $0.37 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Saanich 126,011 · 13 km | Low | $0.76 | 1.8% | Yes |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley 5,156 · 14 km | Low | $0.75 | 0.9% | Yes |
Highlands burns a little more than East Saanich 2, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what East Saanich 2 faces
Practical steps for East Saanich 2’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of East Saanich 2’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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in East Saanich 2.
- 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 East Saanich 2’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, East Saanich 2 takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in East Saanich 2
How big is the earthquake risk in East Saanich 2?
Expected earthquake damage in East Saanich 2 comes to $0.81 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is East Saanich 2 at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: East Saanich 2’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2020), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is East Saanich 2’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
East Saanich 2’s Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in East Saanich 2?
1.8% of the 55 homes Health Canada tested around East Saanich 2 topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does East Saanich 2 flood?
The inventory lists a study touching East Saanich 2; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in 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).