"disaster financial assistance arrangements (dfaa)," a canadian public safety federal program, established in 1970, "allows provinces to request federal assistance when the cost of dealing with a disaster is more than 1 per capita, based on the province’s population. eligible expenses include the cost of evacuating residents, restoring infrastructure and public works, and fixing basic and essential personal property. dfaa "support the provinces in providing or reinstating the necessities of life to individuals, including help to repair and restore damaged homes; re-establishing or maintaining the viability of small businesses and working farms; repairing, rebuilding and restoring public works and the essential community services specified in these guidelines to their pre-disaster capabilities; and funding limited mitigation measures to reduce the future vulnerability of repaired or replaced infrastructure." the "1996 saguenay flood, the 1997 red river flood and the 1998 ice storm resulted in large dfaa payments to affected provinces. dfaa payments of over $1.1 billion were made for these three events. since 1996, dfaa payments have averaged $110 million per year." the "four most significant events, which represents over 50% of public safety’s liabilities, are the 2011 manitoba floods estimated at 347 million, the saskatchewan 2007 spring summer flood at 138 million, the 2010 alberta june rainstorm at 90 million and the 2010 hurricane igor that affected newfoundland at 82 million."