Earthquakes are Little Saigon’s biggest hazard: $0.43 of damage a year per $1,000 of buildings, 14 times the norm
Wildfire is rare near Little Saigon: 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.004% a year. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 1.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Little Saigon grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Little Saigon’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Little Saigon: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Little Saigon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Little Saigon: B−
For Little Saigon, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Little Saigon has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Little Saigon’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
With 0.004% burned a year, Little Saigon is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
Nothing inside 5 km of Little Saigon’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 7.8 km off.
Forest fuel rises from 0.3% within 5 km of Little Saigon to 39% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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 lower half in British Columbia: Little Saigon at 0.004% a year, 144th of 255, far from Oliver’s 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Little Saigon burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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.
A flood study covers Little Saigon, from City of Vancouver: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Little Saigon, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The flood study touching Little Saigon is City of Vancouver’s, dated 2014; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| 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, Little Saigon 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 Little Saigon’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.
Shaking is Little Saigon’s costliest hazard: $0.43 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.
Little Saigon’s $0.43 is about 14.4 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
Neither high nor low in British Columbia: Little Saigon’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.
Little Saigon 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).
The loss is to Little Saigon’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
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 Little Saigon: 1.2% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
A lower share than most: 1.2% of tested homes around Little Saigon, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs lower around Little Saigon than in most towns in British Columbia: 1.2% against 1.8%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Little Saigon 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.
One home in Little Saigon can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Vancouver health region
Weather and fire alerts for Little Saigon
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Little Saigon; 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 Little Saigon come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Little Saigon
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Saigon | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Kensington-Cedar Cottage 39,668 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Riley Park 23,682 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Mount Pleasant 37,091 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| Grandview-Woodland 28,119 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | Yes |
| South Cambie 9,846 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
| Norquay Village 11,287 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.43 | 1.2% | None listed |
The fire record around South Cambie is a touch heavier than Little Saigon’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 Little Saigon faces
Practical steps for Little Saigon’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
- 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 Little Saigon floods.
- 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 Little Saigon sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Little Saigon’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Little Saigon’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Little Saigon
How is Little Saigon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Little Saigon B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Little Saigon?
About $0.43 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Little Saigon.
Does Little Saigon flood?
Little Saigon’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Little Saigon?
1.2% of the 83 homes Health Canada tested around Little Saigon topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Little Saigon at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Little Saigon’s band is low, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2018), so wildfire doesn’t change its 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).