Photo: Lindsay Nicole Terry · CC BY 2.0Few places are as safe from hazards as Pangnirtung: it beats 91% of Canadian towns
NRCan expects $0.027 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Pangnirtung, near the typical $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Risk can’t be graded for Pangnirtung, because the national fuel grid stops south of it. Hazard risk gives Pangnirtung a grade of A; wildfire isn’t measured here.
What stands out about Pangnirtung’s hazards
For Pangnirtung, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Pangnirtung faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Pangnirtung: A
The grade weighs Pangnirtung’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
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 Pangnirtung
Pangnirtung 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 Pangnirtung
Flood studies whose area touches Pangnirtung, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nationally, Pangnirtung has no listed flood study; the municipality is the place to ask.
Towns with a flood study on file
No inventory study touches Pangnirtung, where 58% of Canadian towns have one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Pangnirtung.
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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Pangnirtung: $0.027 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.
Earthquake losses in Pangnirtung, $0.027 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.9 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Canada’s median, $0.030, is the yardstick for Pangnirtung ($0.027): there are too few towns in Nunavut for one of their own.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Pangnirtung (53%).
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Pangnirtung is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Pangnirtung: 0% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Nunavut health region: radon tests
A lower share than most: 0% of tested homes around Pangnirtung, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
With only a few towns in Nunavut, there is no local median to set Pangnirtung’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.
Pangnirtung 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 Pangnirtung’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).
Where to get warnings in Pangnirtung
Alerts for Pangnirtung come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Evacuation orders for Pangnirtung come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Pangnirtung faces
What to do about the hazards Pangnirtung 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.
- 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
- 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 Pangnirtung sits in.
- 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 Pangnirtung floods.
- 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 Pangnirtung.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Pangnirtung’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pangnirtung
Does Pangnirtung flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Pangnirtung’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Pangnirtung?
Around Pangnirtung, 78 survey homes were tested and 0% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Pangnirtung’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Pangnirtung grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pangnirtung?
About $0.027 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Pangnirtung.
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).