On This Day Pre-Y2K
Confused by any of the jargon you see below? Check the Y2K Glossary!
April 2, 1999 Permalink
People want to know “the numbers” because they are afraid of dying. People _want_ to think that “they”, out there, know more than we do about crit systems, because the implication is that disaster can be planned for (because they are all local?) - ie. it is just another “I’m afraid of dying” teddy bear.
When I see some long term concerted effort toward large scale meaningful disaster planning, I will believe that those who are “in charge” are doing their job. When I see & read of many utility groups, water companies, waste disposal groups, hospitals & health groups, transportation groups, petrochemical groups, big banks, corporations, insurance companies, the big churches, state and fed govts, etc. begin to address the potential of y2k disaster with adequate budgets, adequate logistics, adequate acquisitions of materials, adequate storage, and adequate public notifications - then and only then will I finally relax of off my “10”. Until then, I see a whole lot of people nearly frightened to death holding onto their fave Teddy Bear, not doing JACK SH!T.
I heard personally the head of Calif’s OES stand before the Y2k committee and tell us that there are only 4(!) emergency communications vans for the whole state. I heard him say that as of then there had been no, NO, substantive interaction with the petrochemical, chemical, or nuclear industry. There was at that time, NO information at OES on all local Fire & Police depts y2k status - since then we have found out it is spotty. CHP radios were assumed to be OK because 4 cars had been checked. He told told the committee that they plan for a 72 hour emergency because anything longer than that has too many variables to plan for.
It is APRIL people, do you really think that extra $20M earmarked for emergency Calif y2k work will spread very far with a 35M population? Do you really still think that substantive, effective in the breech, Emergency Planning has a chance? Sit down and work up a fast and dirty regional plan for Emergency Response - just the basics - food, water, shelter, logistics, public notification, budget.
Ain’t relying upon nobody but myself & those around me. I assume that y2k will kill me & those I like & love. I’m doing everything I can to prevent that from happening.
Y2k better be a bump in the road, because that is all that is being planned for.
Those electrical remediators better have the systems and grids usable! Elsewise we is toast.
—Mitchell Barnes, Time Bomb 2000 Forums (LUSENET), 04/02/99
I think it is the concerns about the aftermath that is taking its toll on some of us, perhaps all of us from time to time. We are trying to prepare for a brave new world, and without a blueprint we become emotionallly drained. We are not getting the strong signals we need from potential code failures. We still think it can/will be a drastic change in our system at all levels, but there just is no tangible evidence of what direction it will take yet. Very frustrating, and very draining. We can’t be comfortable in an attitude of wait and see, but we also can’t get any relief from the many things we have already done, or still plan to do. We are trying to prepare ourselves for some great unknown future and just can’t get a handle on what that will be or how we will deal with it, even if we have some essentials stockpiled. I think that is why there is fallout in our group from time to time. We need some hard evidence that our thinking and planning is on track. We can’t get it. Are we prepared to “pull up stakes” in our old life, so to speak, and head out into the great unknown? Do we have that sort of sustainable courage? Do we have the sort of courage it took to leave Europe and book passage on some frail sailing ship to the New World? Do we have the sort of courage it took to pile everything in a wagon and head West into unknown lands? Actually, I think most of us do, but we need to have some validation that such a journey is actually required. We are trying to get the latest storm warnings, but there just aren’t enough hard line facts to prove we must altually change our lives from what we had for so long, to something entirely new.
And so we wait, and watch, and wonder, and some of us feel the strain, and fear we will break under the worry of it all. If we had the enemy in our face right now, we would handle it, but we don’t have that. We are maintaining our beliefs by sharing our opinions and concerns with others who have similar fears. We know there is at least a tropical depression out there. Will it turn into a force 5 storm? Will it move over us slowly, stall right over our heads, or only glance off us and cause some locally severe damage but leave the balance of our systems intact, at least for the immediate emergency needs? Can we manage to hold onto our concerns without having our concerns take hold of us? Is our ability to deal with long term worry a part of our preparation that we never anticipated? Is that what will stop us in our tracks?
—Whetherman, Time Bomb 2000 Forums (LUSENET), 04/02/99
