Text COM:1710295 (128 lines)
From: Sumithra
Krishna (das) JPS (Chennai - IN)
Date:
22-Sep-98 16:26
To: Kaunteya
(das) JPS (Mayapur - IN) [10656]
(received: 23-Sep-98
02:18)
Cc:
Apocalypse 1999? (Are you ready?) [41]
Subject:
Surviving the crisis
------------------------------------------------------------
Surviving the Crisis:
Surviving the
Crisis:
How to Prepare For Y2K
July 10, 1998
It's what everybody wants to know: how long will the Y2K
crisis last? In the
event of likely power outages and food shortages when the
crisis hits, how
will people get through it? And what can they do to
prepare?
Kim Ferrall, reporter
The question is not if. It's when.
When should you start getting your family ready for the
Year 2000? The
answer is now.
CBN News is taking you shopping with Paloma O-Riley.
She's the co-founder of
the Cassandra Project and an expert in preparedness for
Year 2000
computer-related disruptions.
Q: How can people begin to get ready?
"The two primary sources of heat that we recommend
are both the kerosene
heaters," says O'Riley. "There are also propane
heaters, and there are wood
stoves. Wood stoves are probably the favorite option of a
lot of people."
Q: Should I just wait until it gets cooler in the fall to
buy heaters?
"Absolutely not," says O'Riley. "You need
to start looking into preparedness
materials now -- while they are still available -- and
they are readily
available. And also, the sooner we start asking for
things, the quicker the
production system can ramp up and supply them."
O'Riley says there's no need to panic, but we've only got
about six months
left to get ready. That's because you're going to start
seeing some Year
2000 problems come January 1999. Some retailers we talked
to are already
gearing up.
"The people that have been calling for the Year 2000
have been talking about
bulk quantities -- stuff for at least a few weeks,"
says Cheri Moser, the
manager of Blue Ridge Mountain Sports. "We've been
looking to stockpile
larger quantities, enough for a month, maybe two."
But not every store is up and ready ... yet. Kent Artist
is an assistant
manager for Lowe's home improvement warehouse in Virginia
Beach. He says
theirs is a response-based industry.
"In retail, you deal with today," he says.
"You deal with tomorrow. And the
third day's gonna come, eventually. But planning from a
retail standpoint,
what product they buy, what product we have available --
I don't think it's
thought of that far in advance."
Getting people to change the way they think is the key.
O'Riley says the
best thing to do is the think of the worst-case scenario.
It's not going to
be business as usual; she says people should expect
interruptions in water,
power, and food.
"We're talking a national emergency here," she
says. "An international
emergency. There is no organization that can handle that.
So we have to stop
expecting somebody to come and fix it for us, or to do it
for us. It's not
going to happen."
Q: What's the first thing people should think about in an
emergency?
"Water," says O'Riley. "Let's take four
members in a family. They want to
store water for 90 days -- we're talking about 360
gallons of drinkable
water. This is not necessarily the same water you would
be using to wash
dishes or to wash clothes. So you would need to be able
to store that much
water safely."
In addition to water filters, O'Riley recommends buying
55-gallon drums made
of food-quality plastic to store your water. They're
available at hardware
stores or through mail-order catalogs. But remember ...
"If you're going to get a thing of water that large,
you have to remember to
have a siphon," says O'Riley. "It's not going
to be possible with one of
these to pick it up and pour the water out."
Q: What about generators? As far as cost is concerned,
we're looking at
almost $1400.
"People need to ask themselves -- what do they need
the electricity for?"
says O'Riley. "If the only thing they really need it
for is just to run
their lights and their TV sets, they really shouldn't be
thinking about
getting a generator."
Save your generators for emergency uses like running
medical devices.
O'Riley says the better bet is to look for alternative
heating sources.
"Natural gas is probably a little more reliable,
given a worst-case
scenario, than an electric stove," says O'Riley.
"However, because natural
gas delivery systems may also be affected, people might
want to make sure
they can use a natural gas stove and adapt it for use
with propane."
Then there's always solar heat, which covers everything
from solar lights to
showers.
Q: What about food?
Canned foods are a good start. Depending on the size of
your family, look
for #10 cans, if possible. Most importantly, be sure to
check the expiration
dates. You can also buy freeze-dried foods at camping
goods stores, or order
direct from catalogs.
"They are all freeze-dried," says O'Riley.
"They do have dehydrated foods on
the market -- different brands."
"It's actually cheaper to buy a dehydrator and do
your own food," says
Moser. "That's definitely an option for people
looking for large
quantities."
As for your financial affairs, O'Riley suggests paying
off as many of your
bills as you can. Rent or mortgage payments should be
paid three months in
advance to get you through the peak of the crisis. And by
all means, get
hard copies of all financial and medical records too.
You can get more information on personal preparedness
from The Cassandra
Project's internet website.
What about those who might call this kind of planning
extreme or even
alarmist? As O'Riley says, it's better to be safe than
sorry.
"I think of it as taking precautions," she
says. "Making sure that my family
and my friends are going to be OK. And I would much
rather do that and be
wrong and not need it, that not having done it, I stuck
my head in the sand
and having somebody hurt because of it."
(Text COM:1710295) -----------------------------------------