Here are several "top 10" lists of important issues/questions to ask and get answers from your local officials regarding the "readiness" of your community. Two community links are included at the top.

This came from coalition2000 listserve newsletter, civicprep@4hlists.org.

those interested in helping in their communities should check out this list and web site. they could use some of the wisdom found on this forum.

www.coalition2000.org/resources.htm

http://www.facsnet.org/y2k

Top Ten Questions To Ask Local Infrastructure Providers

Have you ever regretted getting health, life or fire insurance in a year without a substantial claim?

How many mission critical systems do you have? What are they?

Which ones are not yet fully assessed and remediated? When will they be?

Which ones are not yet tested? When will they be?

Which ones are not yet tested in systems wide testing? When will they be?

Which tests do not include shutdown and bringing back up? Why? What are the risks of uncontrolled shutdown? What are you doing to mitigate those risks?

Which ones do not have contingency plans yet? When will they be published? What and how will you inform the public of those contingency plans?

Which contingency plans have not been practiced? When will they be? What and how will you inform the public of those drills?

What mission critical systems of your adjoining communities are not fully assessed, remediated, tested, contingency planned and drilled? What risks to this town does their unpreparedness pose? What are you doing to prepare for those risks?

What risks are you concerned about? What are you doing to mitigate those risks?

What and how are you informing the public about those risks?

What personal preparations are you making for yourself and your loved ones?

Top Ten Myths about Y2K

It's just about computers or It's just about computers and embedded microchips

Only date-sensitive applications are at risk

Assessing and remediating our own systems makes us Y2K ready

Assessing, remediating and testing our systems makes us Y2K ready

Collecting written compliance claims from vendors makes us Y2K ready

Assessing, remediating, and end-to-end system testing makes us Y2K ready

Assessing, remediating, end-to-end system testing, contingency planning, drills and informing the public makes us Y2K ready

The federal government will be ready

The Federal government will be ready, so we don't have to

It's equivalent to a 3 day storm

The American Red Cross and FEMA can provide food, shelter, water, sewage treatment and medical treatment for all 88,000 communities on 3 days notice

Top Ten Reasons Why Y2K is bigger than a 3 day storm

US economy is dependent on international supply chain; Many international countries are 1/3 less prepared than US (see CIA website)

US transportation of goods, people, is dependent on oil. Off shore oil drilling, refineries, shipping and dockage all have embedded microchip risks. Disruption to the oil supply chain could take months to reach gas stations, and could last years.

US business and government functions are dependent upon automated transfer of information (like direct deposit). Non-compliant data can flow into systems that were compliant, making compliant systems no longer compliant. Weeks can pass before non-compliancy is detected, compounding the "virus" effect

Few organizations comprehend their systems interdependency, let alone are doing system wide testing. Few utilities, for example, are testing shut-down and coming back up - the greatest risk areas.

Many organizations , including utilities, are following a "fix on fail" strategy - without consideration to the difficulties of procurement of parts and technical prowess at a time when transportation and communication are at greater risk

27 High Impact Federal systems are not scheduled to be ready before year end, if at all, including: Federal Prisons, US Postal Service, Medicare and Medicaid, FAA Air Traffic Control, Food Stamps, and Organ Transplants. (Congressman's Horn's Management, Information and Technology SubCommittee 6/15/99 - www.gov.house

Finding, fixing and testing a computer glitch takes highly trained skills and unpredictable time

People have experience in a 3 day storm, and so they have confidence they can "ride it out" with last-minute purchases. If unprepared for longer duration, their emotional state could be fear and anger, causing social, economic and political risks.

Things a Y2K Community Preparedness Committee Should Do

Find out what other communities are learning from their testing and preparations (Ashland, OR, Boulder, CO, Portland OR, Kauai HI, Montgomery County, MD)

Read what the experts are saying (Russ Kelly)

Develop a comprehensive scope of Y2K preparedness with and for their community

Update a Y2K Preparedness Grid weekly, and publicize it in the local paper (www.swampnet.org/y2k/grid.html)

Sponsor community awareness programs (including Y2K Connections)

Involve diverse community leaders and volunteers (use Y2K Connections to build their awareness)

Update weekly the Communty Preparedness Report Card (Center for Y2K and Society - pending)Consider adopting a Global Action Plan approach (see www.GlobalActionPlan.com for community preparedness organizing tools

Conduct frequent community conversations with open dialogues with local citizens and grass roots activists, as well as industry and government leaders

-- Walter Skold (wsvnsk2@juno.com), August 02, 1999

Answers

Walter:

Great ideas. Much better if we could have pinned down the answers a year ago......

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), August 02, 1999.

And the top question to be asked of "officials" (courtesy of Linda):

How about asking why countries, cities, government agencies and big corporations are building and stocking bunkers so key people can weather any Y2K disruptions, and that is just "contingency planning", but individual citizens are told only to prepare for a 2 - 3 day storm and urged not to "hoard"? Why is it "contingency planning" if a city, CEO or agency does it, and "hoarding" if individuals do it?

Actually, we know the answer, it is because of the possibility of bank runs. But ask ...since they have allowed the risk of bank runs and market collapse to keep the media and government from getting the message to the people that they need to prepare as individuals and communities to be self-sufficient, how does the government plan to deal with the high percentage of unprepared people caused by their don't-worry-be-happy media policy?

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), August 01, 1999.

-- Jim (x@x.x), August 02, 1999.

Walter, thanks for such a neat, concise summary. I will use it as a handout to those in my circles who need to hear, or to be reminded.

Jon, you're right...wish I'd known all of this much earlier also!

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), August 03, 1999.