Photo: Tavis Ford from Canada · CC BY 2.0Shaking costs buildings in Greektown $0.43 a year per $1,000 of value, 14 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Greektown, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.005% a year). Radon is lower than usual: 1.2% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Greektown a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Greektown’s hazards
For Greektown, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Greektown faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Greektown grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Greektown, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #136 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,670 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Greektown: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Greektown’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.005% a year keeps Greektown in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Fire has stayed at least 10 km from Greektown’s homes since 1986.
There is forest near Greektown’s homes (13% within 5 km) and more of it further out (42% within 25 km).
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
Greektown sits mid-table in British Columbia: 121st of 255 towns, at 0.005% a year, well behind Oliver (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.
Some fire is mapped around Greektown, 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.
Greektown is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Vancouver
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Greektown: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
A 2014 study by City of Vancouver covers Greektown, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment | City of Vancouver | 2014 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Greektown 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Greektown’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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
High seismic risk in Greektown: $0.43 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Greektown loses $0.43, 14.4 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in British Columbia: Greektown’s $0.43 sits by the median of $0.36, while Duncan reaches $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.
Greektown is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 3.1% 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).
For Greektown the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Vancouver
Radon runs low around Greektown: 1.2% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Greektown’s area, at 1.2%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around Greektown has fewer high tests: 1.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Greektown is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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.
Whatever Greektown’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Vancouver health region
Where to get warnings in Greektown
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Greektown; 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 Greektown, 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)
How Greektown’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greektown | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Kitsilano 27,320 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| West Point Grey 13,429 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Dunbar-Southlands 21,117 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Arbutus Ridge 15,083 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Fairview 33,969 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Davie Village 16,833 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Greektown (low); Kitsilano comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Greektown faces
What to do about the hazards Greektown faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Greektown floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Greektown, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Greektown sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Greektown’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Greektown
How big is the earthquake risk in Greektown?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Greektown $0.43 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Greektown flood?
Greektown’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Greektown’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Greektown grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Greektown at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Greektown since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Greektown?
Around Greektown, 83 survey homes were tested and 1.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).