Photo: busand2003 · CC BY 3.0High radon around Gaspé: 25% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Burn scars are few around Gaspé, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Gaspé as in most places, at $0.016 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Gaspé grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Gaspé’s hazards
For Gaspé, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Gaspé faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Gaspé grades C for hazard risk
For Gaspé, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #135 of 507 in Quebec and #2,079 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near Gaspé: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Gaspé’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Gaspé burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
About as much forest grows next to Gaspé’s homes (86% within 5 km) as across 25 km (91%).
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
Among the 513 towns in Quebec, Mistissini burns fastest (0.31% a year); Gaspé is with the 144 near zero.
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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Gaspé is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 7.5% rank higher.
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.
Gaspé is on the flood map inventory: 6 studies, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Gaspé, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Gaspé the inventory points to 6 studies, most recently Gouvernement du Québec’s in 2012.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaspé | Gouvernement du Québec | 2012 | final |
| Gaspé | Gouvernement du Québec | 2012 | final |
| Gaspé | Gouvernement du Québec | 2009 | final |
| Gaspé | Gouvernement du Québec | 2008 | final |
| Gaspé | Gouvernement du Québec | 2007 | final |
| Gaspé-Anse-au-Griffon | Gouvernement du Québec | 2006 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Gaspé is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Studies touching Gaspé run from the 2000s to the 2010s, with the most in the 2000s: 4 of 6.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Gaspé.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Gaspé’s homes are at risk.
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 Gaspé $0.016 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.
With $0.016 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Gaspé is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.5 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Gaspé, at $0.016, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Gaspé.
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 Gaspé 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).
Test for radon in Gaspé: 25% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the Gaspesie - Iles-de-la-Madeleine health region: radon tests
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Gaspé’s area has 25%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Gaspé, 25% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 3.4% 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.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Gaspé, and 1.5% sit above it.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Gaspé can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Gaspé
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Gaspé; 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. |
For fires near Gaspé, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Gaspé faces
Practical steps for Gaspé’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Gaspé’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Gaspé, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Gaspé 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 Gaspé sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Gaspé
Is Gaspé at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Gaspé’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Gaspé flood?
Gaspé’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How big is the earthquake risk in Gaspé?
About $0.016 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Gaspé.
Is radon a problem in Gaspé?
25% of the 174 homes Health Canada tested around Gaspé topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Gaspé’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Gaspé’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).