Photo: BaShildy . · CC BY 3.0Hazard risk in Igloolik is lower than in almost every Canadian town
Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, just 0% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Risk can’t be graded for Igloolik, because the national fuel grid stops south of it. Hazard risk gives Igloolik a grade of A+; wildfire isn’t measured here.
What stands out about Igloolik’s hazards
For Igloolik, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Igloolik faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Igloolik: A+
For Igloolik, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 78 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough.
Wildfire isn’t measured for Igloolik
Igloolik lies north of the national fuel map, so its wildfire risk isn’t measured, and Risk can’t be graded without it.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Igloolik
Flood studies whose area touches Igloolik, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
An empty entry for Igloolik on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Igloolik has no flood study on file; 58% of Canada’s towns have one.
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 Igloolik.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Igloolik just $0.008 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Igloolik it is only $0.008, 0.3 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
With too few towns in Nunavut for a median of their own, Igloolik is set beside Canada’s: $0.008 against $0.030.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Igloolik is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 87% of the 2,611 towns are 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Igloolik.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Little radon around Igloolik: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Igloolik’s area, at 0%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high. Igloolik doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Nunavut health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
With only a few towns in Nunavut, there is no local median to set Igloolik’s 0% against, so the bars use Canada’s.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Igloolik 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Igloolik, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Igloolik
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Igloolik; 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 Igloolik come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Igloolik faces
Practical steps for Igloolik’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.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
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 Igloolik floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Igloolik’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Igloolik.
- 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 Igloolik sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Igloolik
Does Igloolik flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Igloolik, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Igloolik?
About $0.008 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Igloolik.
Is radon a problem in Igloolik?
The area’s survey found 0% of 78 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Igloolik.
How is Igloolik’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Igloolik’s Hazard risk grade is A+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).