Hope
For The Best, Prepare For The Worst:
What Will Happen If You Are Not Prepared For Y2K
Some
say that come the year 2000, a great catastrophe will take place.
Bombs will explode, no water, no electricity,
money in the bank will be lost, etc. Others say nothing will happen.
These are the two extreme opinions of the Y2K bug.
I read somewhere that it is only those who aren’t prepared that will be
in trouble. So I will explain what
Y2K is, why it is causing such a scare, and how to be prepared just in case you
have to be.
A while ago during the early age of computers, bits and bytes were expensive. They decided they could save a lot by taking two digits off the year in the clock. This made 1973 just 73. Well this worked fine. I wonder if they even considered what would happen come 1999. The computer has no choice but to roll from 99 to 00. You can imagine how confused that could make a computer. It will think it is in 1900.
This will cause many computers to crash. Of course many newer computers have a four-digit year and are Y2K compliant. Many of these are personal computers. What the big worry is commercial computers. Banks, airports, telephone lines, government, business, military, utilities, etc, are the main targets that Y2K will hurt. When the computers crash for these companies, banks may have to close, water may shut down; airplanes may not have a schedule, etc.
The worst I can imagine happening is this. It's New Years Eve. The clock strikes 12:00. Computers roll over to 2000, and the ones in bad shape go to 00. The ones rolling to 00 crash. The electricity goes out because the computers run the electric company. Water stops because computers run the water company. You try to call the electric and water company. You pick up the phone. No dial tone. The telephone company is run by computers as well. This to me is the worst-case scenario. It may not be so bad. Even if it is as bad, if you are prepared you have nothing to worry about.
The media is trying not to make it so dramatic, so as not to frighten people. It’s too late. People have formed their
opinion early on. Maybe the ones just hearing of this problem won’t be so scared. If you don’t know much about this, there
are plenty of resources, especially on the Internet. Some are serious and can help you learn and prepare. Others are big
jokes and mainly entertainment. One thing to ease your mind is to be prepared. If you are prepared for nothing, so what; it
is better than not being prepared and something happens.
You may consider talking to your bank and asking how prepared they are. If you decide they aren’t very ready you can move your money. Have a survival pack ready. If you remember the big earthquake scare several years back, you know what I mean. Things to include could be: cans of food, bottles of water, flashlight, first aid kit, blankets, etc.
People are working on fixing the bug. New software has been developed and people are hired to help. It may not be finished in time however. Just pray your area is. One problem some are most scared of is the nuclear missiles. If the computers at these military bases crash, the bombs may go off. This would be something to panic over, but again people are working on it.
If things do go bad, people will be trying to fix it then. Things may be back to normal any time from a day to a year. No one knows for sure. Perhaps havoc will break lose that first day of the new century, so stay home if you are still scared. It will be an experience, but be prepared and you will be fine. If your preparation turns out to be in vain, praise God! At least you were ready if you needed to be!
Now I will discuss aftermath. In a worst-case scenario, there will be a great depression. People will flood the stores buying supplies. Another reason to prepare NOW. Since the first in line got all the food, and none is coming soon, many will find it hard to get anything.
In a best case scenario, only a recession will result. Companies have stand bys ready. People ready to do things manually that computers used to do. A few businesses will fail due to the domino effect. Unemployment gets higher. The stock market falls.
In the middle case scenario, we will have a severe recession. This may may be similar to a earthquake hitting the entire world at one time. Some things will be ok; others will crash and burn.
Whatever the scenario that will happen, it is a good idea to prepare for the worst one. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
March 22, 1999
