Photo: Mario Pinard · Public domainA flood study covers Amqui: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Around Amqui, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Amqui is middling, $0.046 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Amqui a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Amqui’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Amqui: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Amqui faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Amqui grades C− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Amqui, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #356 of 507 in Quebec and #2,327 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.
Few fires near Amqui: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Amqui’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Amqui is 0.000%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 22 km from Amqui’s homes, none within 5 km.
There is forest near Amqui’s homes (41% within 5 km) and more of it further out (74% 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 Quebec · highest of 513
To three decimals the burn rate around Amqui is zero, as for 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec, while Mistissini reaches 0.31%.
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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Amqui, burning rounds to zero.
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.
Amqui is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Amqui, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Amqui the inventory points to Gouvernement du Québec’s 1995 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amqui | Gouvernement du Québec | 1995 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Amqui among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 Amqui.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Amqui $0.046 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.
1.5 times the typical $0.030: Amqui’s $0.046 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Amqui expects less, $0.046, and La Pocatière the most, $0.48.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More earthquake risk than most: only 31% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Amqui.
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 Amqui’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).
Test for radon in Amqui: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Amqui’s area has 14%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Amqui, 14% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.8% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Amqui among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Amqui only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Bas-Saint-Laurent health region
Weather and fire alerts for Amqui
Alerts for Amqui 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Amqui are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Amqui’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amqui | Low | $0.046 | 14% | Yes |
| Lac-au-Saumon 1,485 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.040 | 14% | None listed |
| Causapscal 2,151 · 19 km | Low | $0.033 | 14% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Lac-au-Saumon (low), still no more than Amqui (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Amqui faces
What to do about the hazards Amqui 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Amqui until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Amqui’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Amqui’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Amqui without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Amqui
How big is the earthquake risk in Amqui?
About $0.046 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Amqui.
Does Amqui flood?
A flood study covers Amqui on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is Amqui at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Amqui since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Amqui?
Around Amqui, 171 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How is Amqui’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Amqui’s Hazard risk grade is C−, 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).