New Zealand city says residents need not panic

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

Here's the second story I've seen now on a *city* concerned about public Y2K panic. Here's the link and two quotes from the article:

"Assurance on services despite computer bug"

http://www.press.co.nz/02/99011618.htm

Residents need not panic over reports essential services could collapse due to the millennium computer bug, authorities say.

Christchurch City Council Y2K project co-ordinator John de Zwart has reassured residents that lights, power, water, and other services will function after 2000.

"Council services will comply by June 22, 1999, a full six months before the deadline. That means on January 1, 2000, the water will run, our pools and facilities will operate, toilets will flush, and yes, the rate database will be intact," he said.

Council communications co-ordinator Sam Fisher said people had been calling the council in recent weeks asking how much bottled water they should put aside before New Year's Day, 2000, in anticipation of wide-spread chaos.

Although the council was taking the issue seriously, there was no need for residents to take precautions themselves, he said.

[skipping now to the final paragraph]

Mr. Fisher estimated that there were thousands of computer chips operating council systems. He was not sure how many computers the council operated or how much the checks were costing.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), January 17, 1999

Answers

He's right - if everybody prepraes for some degree of disruption - there is no need to panic.

If not enough people prepare, and if there are problems longer than ????? (choose a number between 10 and ten thousand) people can tolerate being uncomfortable waiting for services to return, then there is reason to panic.

But thats not he probably meant to say.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 18, 1999.


What bothers me about this article is the specific date--June 22, 1999-and yet they don't know how many computers they'll have to deal with, or how much the project is going to cost.

What are the chances of being done within five months if they're still only in their asseessment phase?

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), January 18, 1999.


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