This page gives you links and references to many sources of materials and information about activities you can do to provide for you and your family in the event of problems. Select from the following directory -
"I have been asked to prepare for problems ranging from minor annoyances to power grid losses of up to nine months. Some people are not concerned about the Y2K phenomenon. Others have predicted that deliveries of fuel and food will stop shortly after midnight Jan. 1, 2000, and that reserves from retail food and fuel outlets will be used up within 48 hours.
"Because no one can guarantee there will be no power outage when computers enter the next millennium, I am recommending that residents prepare for it much as they would prepare for a power loss caused by a flood or storm."
Larry Stern is the emergency manager for Boulder County and City.
The Office of Emergency Management coordinates the activities of volunteer, public, and private agencies in emergency planning, mobilizing, and direction of emergency preparedness personnel in response to and recovery from disasters or emergencies in the City or County of Boulder, Colorado. Office of Emergency Management
The Emergency Services Group of the Boulder County Sheriff's Department represents the statutory responsibilities of the Boulder County Sheriff in search and rescue, wildland fire suppression, hazardous materials incidents, structure fire investigations, natural disasters and is a liaison to the other emergency service providers in Boulder County. Office of Emergency Services.
Do you have any unclaimed money or property held by any state or federal governmental agency anywhere in the country? There is a National Unclaimed Property Database that just might be worth checking. And it is free.
It does require that you have an email address for an online inquiry. Otherwise, the mailing address is -
Their online procedure is to log in to their web site, and fill out their registration form. In return, they will send a password to your email address. You then take this password back to the web site and use it to enable searching the database. At that point, you get a report about whether there are any records anywhere in your name.
National Unclaimed Property Database; /http://www.nupd.com/ Another resource that recently came on line and provides much the same service is Missing Money.Larry Shook, a journalist and Y2k activist in Spokane, WA. expresses his views about why and how we should take the Y2K situation very seriously.
Take time to check on medical information about you under your name at the insurance industry's medical records database. This is a national database that collects patient records for the major insurance companies -
A reprint of your records costs $8.00.
A good discussion of the issue of medical privacy is -
How to Develop Personal and community preparedness. See the Cassandra Project Preparedness pages for a general introduction to personal and community preparedness.
Somewhere between predictions of technological doomsday, and those who say that "Y2K" is the invention of rabid money hungry consultants -- lies reality. In the absence of hard facts and data, we are left with only one option, to take precautions. This link provides resourceful information for individuals preparing for the Y2K event. En Espanol tambien! "Individual Preparedness for Y2K."
Do you have an older VCR unit that was made before the manufacturers became aware of the Y2K requirements? Don't discard it - try the following technique to see if you can still use it, even though perhaps not in exactly the way the manufacturer intended.
This idea applies especially to the VCR's with the "TC+" feature thats let you program them for a recording session by punching in a four to eight digit code from the TV Guide.
Go the setup menu and set today's date, today's month, and the current time for today. But instead of setting the current year, set the year to 1971 if you are in the year 1999, to 1972 if you are in 2000, to 1973 if you are in 2002, etc. I.e., the current year - 28. After this, continue using the VCR as always: by punching in the programming codes from the TV Guide.
How it works - the weekdays in the calendar repeat themselves every 28 years. For example, Saturday January 16, 1999 is also a Saturday on all the following dates -
So - just maybe - by setting a date that is within the VCR's valid date range of 1971 ... 1999, you can fool it into doing the correct thing for you. Give this trick a try before rushing out and buying that genuine "Y2K Compliant" VCR.
Find a Community Preparedness group in your area or list a new one. Community Preparedness Groups.
A philosophy of community organizing around the y2k issue. Guidelines and tips for how to organize your neighborhood to prepare for Y2K. Neighborhood Organizing.
Addresses and more for suppliers in the US and Canada. Preparedness Food and Supplies Links.
The core message of the Community and Family Preparedness Program is your Family Disaster Plan -- four steps people can take to prepare for any type of disaster. Family Disaster Planning.
This brochure was developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Community and Family Preparedness Programs which provides information to help families prepare for all types of disasters. FEMA Guide for General Disaster Planning.
People with disabilities who are self-sufficient under normal circumstances may have to rely on the help of others in a disaster. FEMA Guide for Assisting people with disabilities in a disaster.
Timely preparation, including structural and non-structural mitigation measures to avoid the impacts of severe winter weather, can avert heavy personal, business and government expenditures. Experts agree that the following measures can be effective in dealing with the challenges of severe winter weather: FEMA Guide for Winter Preparedness Safety Tips.
Get the most important tips for each type of disaster -- warning information, things you can do today, and how to stay safe during and after a disaster strikes. American Red Cross Safety Disaster Services.
American Red Cross Disaster Preparedness for Seniors by Seniors.
The following information has been prepared by the Humane Society of the United States in cooperation with the American Red Cross. American Red Cross Pets and Disasters; Get Prepared.
The Agriculture Industry - Y2K and Our Food Supply: Moovin' From Farm to Fork. Today, contributing writer Charlie Register continues his series of articles examining in depth the testimony regarding the U.S. food supply before the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Computer Technology Problem. Today's installment focuses on the threat the Year 2000 Problem poses to the food distribution network in the United States. As of February 24, 1999.