Excerpt from rough draft on one of Larry's thoughts:

"Official pronouncements re Y2K from establishment leaders appears two-faced. Upfront, in their headlines they claim that Y2K will not be really serious, a minor bump in the road, and strongly recommend that people NOT change their basic life-styles. In the fine print, or deeper into an article, they express concern and recommend citizens and local communities prepare by storing essentials. Why this double message?"

Read the rest of it here.

-- Critt Jarvis (Wilmington, NC) (critt@critt.com), January 05, 1999

Answers

A. these people are really ignorant
B. they're lying scoundrels
C. it is a conspiracy
D. all of the above


-- a (a@a.a), January 05, 1999.

Suspect they were following the tried and true models of "damage control" and that "they" are the only ones who can handle the problem.

It's bigger than they are, it's global, it won't be fixed in time and they are now running scared looking for alternative answers. The kind the "grass roots" are possibly providing. That's why Janet Abrams says she can support the grass roots but not the head-for-the-hills crowd.

What do you do when you're trying to figure out how bad it is and what to do about it? Stall for time. Keep juggling.

Phased preparation won't take the system down in one fell swoop. They hope. I sure hope they help us all prepare to the best of our and their ability, remember what is important, and really focus on the utility sector.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 05, 1999.

For the first time ever FEMA has issued an emergency preparedness statement here in California. This was issued under the guise of an earthquake emergency. FEMA advised that we all have at least 2 weeks supplies, food, medical, sanitary, etc. plus they advised us to "have a contingency plan in place. Heard this while listening to the Rush show hosted by Snow. Not a bad idea to prepare even if you do not think there is a y2k problem looming. Got MUSA?

-- Mark Hillyard (foster@inreach.com), January 05, 1999.

Mark, FEMA has an excellent Disaster Preparedness Training Program in California, as well as Oregon and Washington. We're earthquake country! Ask your local Fire Department about NET or CERT or NERT (each city likes to name it their way ;) training. It is valuable!

Talking, reading, shopping to prepare are very good, but when you do the drills and neighborhood excercises with real fires, real collapsed buildings, real ham radio relays, etc. you get an awesome inside view of the logistics. They like to train us when it's really nasty outside, too. We get to drag 'injury' victims down stairs in smoking fire training towers, size up just-struck rampaged areas, evaluate hazmat warnings, etc etc etc. It's free and may save your life! Go for it!

Ashton & Leska in Cascadia, who certainly hope FEMA is not an evil monster in disguise, because we're so grateful for their ongoing training

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-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 05, 1999.

Leska, what is the best local official contact point for a newbie to get involved in the training you have described ? Is there a certain office that should be contacted ?

Thanks, -RC

-- runway cat (runway_cat@hotmail.com), January 05, 1999.

RC, we have simply asked the local main Fire Dept for whichever city we are living in. Since we are Work-In hospice caregivers, we are always living in a new city! Well, actually now we've been just about everywhere, narrowing it down.

Some little branches may not know what you're talking about, but the main head Fire Office will know. Just say you want to become a certified Neighborhood Emergency Response Team member, and want all the training. They'll be thrilled! There are constant meetings, steering committees, interactive drills, advanced leadership seminars, etc. We had friends who lived in Los Angeles whose church strongly advised all members become trained as a way to positively "love thy neighbor." Being drilled to help in shake 'n bakes is so useful and practical, and introduces one to like-minded preppers.

One thing we noticed to our great relief was that when emergency/disasters did occur, after we were certified, we were *not* called up or obligated to serve. That was important because if we're attending to a dying person, we are obligated to stay with that patient. What happened was, NET folks voluntarily showed up where needed in droves and saved the city! guaranteeing addition funding for the program ;)

We're going back for another round of training in a new city, and we'll be reporting to the Forum what the Y2K emphasis is. It will be so interesting! Our home care agency has agreed to provide coverage for us to do this. Something to look forward to in this countdown year.

Ashton & Leska in Cascadia, whose FEMA training sure came in handy working at the Hospital :-P

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-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 05, 1999.