Natural Hazards of Canada

Canada borders on three oceans, stretches across six time zones, encompasses mountains, plains, forests and tundra. It hosts weather patterns that range from Arctic to moderate, from seemingly endless rains to drought, from numbing cold to heat waves. With all those landforms and weather types, the possibilities of severe weather and geological events are a constant reality.
When a natural hazard affects Canadians to the extent that the community involved needs assistance dealing with the harm that has occurred to people, and possibly the surrounding property and environment, the event becomes known as a disaster.

The Canadian Disaster Database is an inventory of disasters that have directly affected Canadians since 1900 and that meet certain other criteria. Consult the Canadian Disaster Database to find out about natural hazards that have had disastrous effects on Canadians here.

Find out more about the following natural hazards:

• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Hail
• Icebergs, sea ice and fog
• Landslides and snow avalanches
• Tornadoes
• Tsunamis and storm surges
• Volcanic eruptions
• Winter Storms

Canadian Disaster Database

Date modified:

2015-12-16