Mexico, Argentina and Greece improve their Y2K preparedness, while Russia, Malaysia and Taiwan lose ground

The latest update on global preparedness shows the average country improving slightly in Y2K efforts, but still prone to serious damages.

August 19, 1999--

The latest update of the IM-Y2K Risk rating report to be released on August 20th, shows the average country slightly lowering its Y2K risk . The updated report indicates 28 countries have improved their Y2K risk conditions due to stepped up fix efforts.

Unfortunately, 21 countries have slipped further behind in their efforts. The vast majority of countries are still showing significant risk of infrastructure failure.

One of the most improved countries is Mexico, which showed dramatic improvements across the 4 sectors assessed. The most disappointing country was Russia which lost ground in all 4 sectors and continues to be a significant point of concern. Taiwan and Malaysia are also considered to be increasing their riskiness by falling behind in already late y2k projects.

Among the more economically significant countries; France, Germany and Japan were seen to be improving while the U.S. slipped slightly, Russia slipped significantly behind its previous Y2K risk estimate.

Sector analysis

The best gains are being made in the financial services sector which were improving in 36 out of 49 countries. Transportation was falling behind in 27 of the 49 countries. This failure in transportation could raise significant issues for supply chains.

Global damages, excluding legal and insurance costs, are still estimated at over USD$ 1.1 trillion. Delays and anticipated risks range from mild inconveniences, such as short term rolling electricity brown outs, to serious health and safety risks in many countries.

The table, below, indicates countries improvement or slippage relative to prior risk assessments. The countries are ordered from most net positive risk change to most negative net risk change.

A "+" sign indicates improvement, and a "-" sign indicates falling into riskier territory. The net change may not always agree with the sign changes as each marker reflects a different magnitude of improvement or slippage.

(See table at site.) + The scenario for most countries still indicates significant potential for infrastructure failure possibly lasting anywhere from 2 days to 8 weeks.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 30, 1999

Answers

Sorry, site is:

http://www.intl-monitoring.com/news.htm

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 30, 1999.

Link

I note that the chart is only concerned with the net change.. not with the level of risk. So if a country was previously flushed and nearly to the sewage treatment plant, but is now all the way up to the toilet bowl, that is a net positive change.

The United States BTW, is listed as a net NEGATIVE change... even though there are +'s in Utilities, Telecoms, and Finance, and the only "minus" is in Transportation. "The net change may not always agree with the sign changes as each marker reflects a different magnitude of improvement or slippage."

But of course in our case the "net NEGATIVE" does NOT mean we are anywhere *close* to the toilet bowl because that only applies to OTHER countries. But you might want to prepare for a 3 - 5 day storm instead of a 2 - 3 day storm.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), August 31, 1999.