Photo: Michel Craig · CC BY-SA 2.0A flood study covers Eastman: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Burn scars are few around Eastman, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.040 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Eastman, near the typical $0.030. Radon around Eastman is ordinary for Canada: 7.3% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Eastman a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Eastman’s hazards
For Eastman, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Eastman faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Eastman grades B for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Eastman, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #59 of 507 in Quebec and #1,429 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 55 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Eastman has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Eastman’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.000% of the land a year around Eastman, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
25% of the land within 5 km of Eastman is forest fuel, close to the 29% 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
Of the 513 towns in Quebec, 144 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Eastman among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% a year.
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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Eastman, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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 Eastman, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Eastman: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Eastman, Gouvernement du Québec’s from 2004, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastman | Gouvernement du Québec | 2004 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Eastman has 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 Eastman.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Eastman: $0.040 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.040 per $1,000, Eastman’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.3 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Eastman expects less, $0.040, 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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Eastman (43%).
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 Eastman 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).
7.3% of homes tested around Eastman are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Estrie health region: radon tests
7.3% of tested homes around Eastman were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Eastman’s area has 7.3%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Eastman is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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 Eastman’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 Eastman
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Eastman; 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 Eastman come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Eastman’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastman | Low | $0.040 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Austin 1,959 · 5.4 km | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Orford 5,698 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.042 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Stukely-Sud 1,242 · 9.0 km | Low | $0.053 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Magog 30,764 · 12 km | Low | $0.047 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Bolton-Est 1,337 · 13 km | Low | $0.036 | 7.3% | None listed |
| Racine 1,441 · 17 km | Low | $0.041 | 7.3% | None listed |
Nowhere around Eastman burns more: Austin, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Eastman faces
What to do about the hazards Eastman 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 Eastman until then.
- 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 Eastman.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Eastman without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Eastman’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Eastman
How big is the earthquake risk in Eastman?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Eastman’s buildings lose $0.040 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Eastman’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Eastman grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Eastman at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Eastman since 1986 (last in 2016); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Eastman?
Around Eastman, 55 survey homes were tested and 7.3% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Eastman flood?
A flood study covers Eastman on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).