New Zealand warns of possible interruption of essential services up to as late as March 31, 2000

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http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/99/133654.html

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 25, 1999

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New Zealand Warns Citizens, Expects Global Y2K Media Rush

By Adam Creed, Newsbytes

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, 21 Jul 1999, 1:43 AM CST

New Zealand's Y2K Readiness Commission is concerned that the country's citizens are not preparing themselves for disruptions to essential services at the turn of the millennium, saying 25 percent of people are still ignoring the problem.

The latest study from the government commission came a few weeks after it warned that the Year 2000 problem could lead to the interruption in supply of essential services from December 31, 1999 up to as late as March 31, 2000.

The study found that 59 percent of New Zealand households were going to make some plans for Y2K.

Throughout the critical period, New Zealand will be in disaster preparedness mode, with Emergency Management & Civil Defence developing coordinated plans to deal with any potential disruption.

Extensive monitoring of the situation will be made available to the public through the Internet and other media. With New Zealand being one of the first countries in the world to see the New Year in, the commission expects the global community to be looking to the nation for any early warnings of Y2K problems.

The Y2K Readiness Commission will be providing comment to international media during the Y2K period. As part of its preparation for an expected flood of interest it has taken steps to ensure the additional level of interest does not create infrastructural problems in itself, especially with the New Year period traditionally places demands on existing systems.

Reported By Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 25, 1999.


Vital services? What are they? Do they include ...

Medical?
Utilities?
Water?
Telecom?
Police and Fire?
Food?

Hey, what do I know? I'm just a "doomer". Funny, it seems like people might even ..... die .... if they didn't prepare for a three-month disruption in "vital services" (I know, just a possibility, could be two weeks or could be, um, five months, I 'spose)? Might die anyway.

Good thing those New Zealanders are fanatics. Can't happen here.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), July 25, 1999.


The Y2K rollover will happen here in NZ during our summer. This means that we will not be affected by any disruption as much as people in the northern hemispere. Food is plentiful that time of year, and warmth is not an issue. Power supplies appear to be very secure (no nukes, and plenty of hydro stations).

The unknowns are in the cities with water and sewerage services, telecoms, and perhaps some earlier model eftpos terminals.

In rural areas (most of NZ) there are no major issues at all.

Malcolm

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), July 25, 1999.


That's three months, which means prepare for a least six months.

-- A (A@AisA.com), July 26, 1999.

Malcolm is correct about the preparedness status of the nation on a short term basis.

However, the systemic economic consequences of Y2k will have a greater impact on New Zealand because we are a small trading nation. We rely on international trade for our income and for the commodities we don't make because other people can make them more efficiently.

Few if any NZers will die from Y2k consequences over the transition period. More more will be affected as the global economy experiences the death of a thousand cuts from Y2k failures over next year.

Medium and long term economic effects will shift wealth from the many to the few in many countries.

We hope to avoid the pain of this type of social disruption by ensuring we deal with the stuff we need to manage internally.

As people in California are apt to say:

Living in an earthquake prone country concentrates the mind wonderfully!

So, NZer Mike Moore is Chairperson of the Wold Trade Organisation, The NZers beat our Aussie friends at rugby league and our cricketers beat England at Lords, the Home of Cricket. and as a cartoon I saw said, its only Monday.

Now, I wonder what we can do for the people who are coming to New Zealand for the millennium. How do we get them back home when there are still questions about aircraft and shipping?

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), July 26, 1999.



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