Maine state government advising residents to prepare for three week disruption

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Link

-- a (a@a.a), October 01, 1999

Answers

"Expect to use at least gallon of water per person, per day and store at least a three day supply for each family member."

I just don't get this. Water is very important and virtually free. Why only 3 days???

"Be sure to store items that can provide enjoyment and ease boredom but don't require electricity."

Very interesting, considering this about Maine from a few days ago:

State keeps Y2K report secret "PUC grants utilities secrecy on Y2K plans"

Otherwise, at least the advice is a good starting point!

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), October 02, 1999.


The latest Y2K hand-out from Mohave County, Arizona tells residents to, " Maintain a minimim of five to seven days supply of food, water, first aid kit, flashlights, spare batteries, warm clothing, etc."

There's a real scary sentence in this hand-out that reads, "Plan to help friends, neighbors and your community, as neccessary." Anybody here know the what legal weight of the words "plan" and "neccessary" have in government document like this?

-- Cigarette Smoking Man (csm@smoke.ing), October 02, 1999.


correct me if i am wrong--but what looks interesting to me is that so much of this text seems to be the same as a mail out that was done in Northern VA several weeks ago. guess our friend kosky is still at it--controlling the info we get.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), October 02, 1999.

a,

Perhaps you have another link to another article in mind, but the article to which the given link links does not advise "prepare for three week disruption". It does mention having enough cash for two to three week's expenses, but it also refers to a three day supply of water. It also refers to intermediate time periods, but nothing that translates to a three week disruption.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), October 02, 1999.


The recommendations said:
Also, many so-called "Y2K survivalists" advocate stockpiling months of water, food, and medicine to prepare for potential emergencies in the year 2000. If people follow this advice, it won't matter if our systems fail. People, not computers, will create a great catastrophe in 2000 by causing shortages that seriously disrupt our food supply system. The American Red Cross suggests preparing as you would for a severe winter storm-by keeping a one to two week supply of essential food, water, and medicine. If we act responsibly as citizens and consumers, we can all be ready for Y2K and other potential emergencies.
And if we act responsibily as governments, including municipal, state and federal, then we do not run from problems simply because they could have a large economic impact. Clearly, the potential risk was seen from a great distance. Perparing for a several month disruption is not taxing on the distribution systems if it is spread out over a sufficient period. With Y2K, there was certainly sufficient warning as well as sufficient opportunity to prepare a large portion of our society for a several month, moderate disruption in infrastructure.

The reasons that we lacked the collective political will to make significant preparations were largely economic. With the increasing relative importance in our society of the entrepreneur, we base more and more of our decisions on economic interests alone. Significant preparations require a change in spending habits. This creates large ripples in the economic pond. This leads to large winners and large loosers. People and organizations don't want to be large loosers, so the try to do what they can to protect their interests.

In our society today we seem to allow the pursuit of profits to be the sole driver in all but the most obviously dire circumstances. More significantly, we frequently trade long-term benefits for short-term profits.

Consider our reaction to hurricanes. Evacuations are expensive and create a huge number of economic loosers. Thus, state and municipal officials are pressured to wait until the last possible moment before ordering an evacuation.

I'm not arguing that profits and short-term gains are not important. Indeed, if my company is not making a profit, I'm not likely to keep my job for very long.

But I find their statement about 'Y2K survivalists' a bit disingenuous. It is true that preparaing for a several month disruption at this late date would create it's own set of problems. But anyone who has already prepared themselves for a several month disruption certainly did not create any problems or serious shortages.

Yet, the document seems to suggest that if you prepared late and minimally, you are acting responsibly. On the other hand, if you prepared early and moderately, then you are a "Y2K survivalist" that "will create a great catastrophe".

Maine officials should be reminded that throughout our history, it is not "over preparation" that creates great catastropies, but more frequently it is the lack of adequet preparation and the inability to see clear and present warnings.

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), October 02, 1999.



Help me with my failing memory here, didn't Maine just have a big Y2K review which they decided to keep secret from the public?

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001VJw

Now they say, GET PREPARED NOW!!!

Am I missing something here or did that report scare someone?

Things will get worse before they get better.

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), October 02, 1999.


As a resident of Maine, I'm finding that the article from the Portland Press Herald seems to have been kind of a wake up call. I've been on vacation for the last week and after the article was published I had three people from work call me at home asking if I had seen the article. I started out badgering my collegues about y2k prep sometime in January and I've taken alot of good natured ribbing. Along about March I decided not to waste my time discussing it anymore. I have a couple of neighbors who GI's and we've been involved in prepping our households as a compound almost. My immediate neighbor makes custom bike frames. He's got a prototype bike cart in the works. We've discussed everything and have gone down each limb of the y2k doomsday tree. It helps with my anxiety to have people to talk with about it. Anyway, sorry- I strayed off my point. I think that the two articles concerning Maine's y2k preparations have made some members of the herd lift their heads and move a little. I'm anticipating that when I get to work on Tuesday that there will be some people who will say,"Hey Jan, I was thinking about you when I saw that article....blah,blah.". I also anticipate that some will be asking me quite seriously about it. I've been saying to the DGI'S when they've been tweeking me about all the compliance/public relations/ releases,"Pay attention and look at who's saying what.". I take out my pen and underline the named spokesman in the piece and his title, usually some PR hack, and I then smile my evil little smile. "Pay attention,pay attention..." However, some good news; one of my coworkers posts her canned veggie's status on my locker every Monday...."atta girl!" I say.... Jan

-- Jan Cunningham (janhame@midcoast.com), October 02, 1999.

Somebody needs to rework that prep list. They suggest putting up a one to two week (7-14 days) worth of food stuffs, but only suggest a mere 3 days of water. We can live a whole lot longer without food than we can without water. Who's making up these lists and does anyone proofread them before actually publishing them? Duh

beej

-- beej (beej@ppbbs.com), October 02, 1999.


Uh, duh, Jerry..."Have a three week supply" of cash. Gee. I wonder what for? Maybe a THREE WEEK DISRUPTION?

-- a (a@a.a), October 03, 1999.

Arnie, yeah, the survivalists are all done prepping. Any panick-caused food disruptions from here on out are caused by Johnny-get-it-latelys who THINK they can be instant survivalists. The fast food mentality hits the bulk-buying wall.

Splat.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), October 04, 1999.



Ok, who put that "K" in "panic"?

-- bw (home@puget.sound), October 04, 1999.

Arnie, this is the answer:

TPTB sorta saw what might happen, about 1 year ago. They deliberately put out the BS about "disruptive" to prepare so that THEY and THEIRS could get first dibs and plenty to prepare themselves. Sheer dupliticious greed, avarice, and cold non-caring about the rest of the population.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), October 11, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ