Natural disasters in China divine retribution: "tianzai" (天災), literally 'heavenly disaster'. In ancient beliefs, natural disasters were seen as Heaven’s response to immoral human behaviour, whereby the conduct of different individuals carried different weights. While the behaviour of common people ranked last, the actions of bureaucrats had a greater effect. Given that in Imperial China the emperor's behaviour was believed to be the most important, popular belief was that the emperor should attempt to prevent disasters by ensuring his conduct was in following with moral codes – and if a disaster should occur, he was responsible for addressing the consequences. According to the Overseas
History of flooding in Canada due to sewer back-up, not fire. Floods occur five times as often as wildfires, the second most frequent natural hazard in Canada. Between 1900 and 2005 there were 241 flood disasters in Canada. The 1894 Fraser River flood had a return period of slightly more than 500 years and the 1948 flood was close to a 200-year event. The 1997 Red River flood was named the 'flood of the century'. The International Joint Commission (IJC)'s 1998 report warned that although the 1997 Red River flood had a "return interval ranging from 100 to 500 years, depending on the location", there