Y2K Test Drills

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December 21, 1998
I've read that this week is being set aside by some organizations to run preliminary tests on their remediated systems.

Found this interesting article about Montgomery County, which reminds me of the town in Texas which did a Y2K drill.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/dec98/mont gomery1221.htm

These drills sound helpful. Perhaps we can post these types of articles on this thread. The more drills the better! Not that it solves everything, and it *can* be staged, but to organize & plan it takes energy directed at the problem, and can only raise awareness.

If your city/county/state/organization is about to hold a Y2K Drill or Test, or has already done so, could you tell us about it? Thanks.

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), December 21, 1998

Answers

Of equal importantance are personal/family Y2K preparedness drills or 'dry runs'. Mrs. Rimmer & I are headed for our first one in a couple of weeks. We plan on coming home from work on Friday to a cold, dark house with no phone, no electric and no outside assistance. (Folks who live in the northern tier of states or Canada should have no trouble understanding that this will not be 'camp out'!)

Services will not be restored for 48 hours (unless we fail our test miserably!) Now that the chill has set in here in Iowa, a weekend in January without electricity (which would have been unthinkable just a few short months ago) should be a good first test.

I'd like to think we could work up to a week before the end of this winter but let's do this one cold day at a time. We believe that several such dry runs will help teach us what we are not prepared for before it really counts. I'll share what we learn...

-Arnie

PS: Have not seen any local agency drills in my area. That's not to say that there haven't been any -- just that if there have been, they've been mighty low profile.

The local EMA is aware but based upon comments I've read at the national web site, the local EMA is feeling a bit lonesome and concerned that their efforts are not being met with the seriousness that some there feel it deserves. Apparently, the view by some in our local govt is that the local EMA will be able to magically handle whatever is tossed their way. No appreciation for how quickly they could be overwhelmed.

The local newspaper has been a big zero - a couple of feel good "don'tcha worry" articles. George Ford, a longtime local reporter talked to some banking people here and reported what they said (Your money is safe, your money is safe, your money is safe). Of course he didn't get into the fractional reserve banking system, nor did he mention the number 1.17% but he did manage to tell us that our money is safe, is safe, is safe (you're getting very sleepy now). Unfortunately, it's been several years since the local paper has done any real investigative journalism. I don't really think they have it in them any more. And certainly no call for community preparation...(guess that's just uncalled for). Actually, I'm a bit too hard on George here... he is a pretty nice guy and he's close to retirement so he's not gonna be a martyr for any cause. Can't say that I blame him.

But it's quite sad because personal/family preparation could make a huge difference here, especially to the EMA folks who stand a chance of being overwhelmed fairly easily. If these people have any chance of successfully addressing the task they've been handed, they're going to need a lot more support than what they've been given.

(Unfortunately, with that support comes publicity and we just can't have any of that negative thinking stuff here. People might begin to suspect that their money wasn't safe.)

Inch by inch, as the time runs out.

-Arnie

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), December 22, 1998.


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