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Gov’t prepares for possible Y2K woes
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Posted on Dec 30 1999
An inter-agency group under the Y2K Task Force will be on standby beginning 10:00 p.m. on Dec. 31 to monitor and respond to possible troubles arising from the so-called millennium bug. The Unified Command System will be in operation until 6:00 a.m. New Year’s Day.
The government, with the assistance of the Office of Insular Affairs, has created the monitoring team to ensure that any Y2K-related problems will be addressed immediately.
According to Keith Parsky, public information officer of OIA, the Department of the Interior has established 13 command centers for this purpose, including a command post for the region.
“We get the Y2K experience 15 hours before everybody else so it became a more interesting prospect to have a command center here because the information can be used by other communities across the country,” Mr. Parsky told a press conference. “They are very excited about hearing what happens here not only because of what it will
do to other countries, but because they are also interested in helping us.”
He said interior department has spent some $23 million in helping out US insular territories in upgrading their computer-dependent systems to be Y2K ready, especially those agencies providing critical services to the public.
Mr. Parsky explained the federal government and civil defense teams have combined to respond to emergencies stemming from the possible breakdown of utilities.
But the OIA official has a piece of advice to the community: don’t panic.
“We see a lot of people from other communities running out, getting all kinds of supplies. That’s what really what we’re seeing the human-induced phenomena,” he said. “But the basic message here is people shouldn’t panic.”
There are no reports yet on panic buying on the island, but most stores in Saipan say sales are up because consumers are buying for the holiday season.
The possible effects of the millennium bug will not be felt until Monday when businesses resume.
