They are everywhere.

*Sigh*

Diane

South Africans stockpile food, water and ammo in case of Y2K chaos
ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press Writer
December 5, 1999

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/1999/12/05/international1225EST0733.DTL

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

(12-05) 09:25 PST NELSPRUIT, South Africa (AP) -- Ed, a pistol-packing South African, doesn't expect much trouble if the Y2K computer bug brings chaos outside his barbed-wire fence. He's got an ocean of diesel fuel, a vegetable garden, electrical generators, an endless water supply -- and an arsenal.

A former branch manager of a banking-insurance conglomerate, Ed is not alone in preparing for an apocalyptic end to the millennium.

Most of the technophiles who have sounded the Y2K alarm say any disruptions caused by the computer programming glitch will probably last only a few days. Chances the Y2K bug will cause anarchy are ``very, very, very low,'' says Allim Milazi, spokesman for South Africa's Y2K preparedness agency.

But from the high-rises of Tokyo to the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, some people are eyeing New Year's Eve with apprehension and are mobilizing for chaos, though it's impossible to tell how many worldwide are doing so.

Up a dirt road that winds through granite-peaked hills, where blooming jacarandas splash purple across the landscape, Johann Van Zyl was so rattled by Ed's predictions of social breakdown that he bought a diesel storage tank, thousands of gallons of fuel, a generator, months worth of food, two rifles, two pistols and thousands of bullets.

``I first thought, 'He's going crazy,''' Van Zyl explains. ``Then I began listening. Then I started to worry.''

Ed, who insisted his surname not be used for security reasons, doesn't believe the promises of Y2K compliance from the government, utilities and major industries on which his nation's economy depend.

``I'm concerned people will come for what I have and will kill me for it,'' he says of the chaotic times he expects beginning Jan. 1.

Ed grows macadamia nuts and, thanks to an aquifer, runs a bottled-water business on his 52-acre property, which come New Year's will become a free-fire zone.

``If I find someone inside the fence I can ventilate him, which I will do,'' says Ed, whose arsenal boasts an R-4 assault rifle.

In the nearby town of Nelspruit, 185 miles east of Johannesburg, pharmacist Richard Botha is putting in a six-month supply of insulin, high blood pressure medicine and other life-sustaining drugs for his patients, instead of the normal six-week supply. He bought a generator for the refrigerator to keep the drugs fresh if the electrical grid goes down.

With many computers set to read only the last two digits of a year, the Y2K bug could cause them to freeze up during the rollover to 2000 unless the problem is corrected. Anything containing computer chips -- ATMs, cash registers, fuel pumps -- could be affected.

``There's gonna be problems. I'm sure of it,'' says Botha. At home, he has stockpiled food, candles, a generator and guns. ``If a worst-case scenario occurs, the have-nots will try to take from the haves, and we'll have to protect ourselves.''

The Nelspruit town council is preparing residents by publishing an ad in the local paper. It says chances are good that Y2K problems will be minor and quickly resolved, but also warns of the possibility of panic, looting and the collapse of the economy.

``In such a case the public are requested not to panic,'' the ad says, adding: ``Our civilization withstood many wars and disasters in the past.''

Johann Putter, the city's head of protection services, says officials have drawn up contingency plans to bring police and soldiers into the streets in case of looting. A Y2K disaster coordination office is being set up in the main fire station.

Many locals, like Monique Lamprecht, a waitress in the nearby town of White River, feel the preparations are unnecessary. She is planning a backpacking trip in neighboring Mozambique with her boyfriend to celebrate the new millennium.

Elsewhere around the globe: --In the United States, communities of Y2K survivalists dot the landscape. In Virginia's Blue Ridge mountains, the Internet is drawing people to a self-sustaining community called Rivendell, named after a refuge and learning center in J.R.R. Tolkien's ``Lord of the Rings.''

--In Japan, 800 members of the Y2K Citizen's Network Tokyo are stockpiling food, water and fuel, fearing oceangoing freighters that supply so many of Japan's imports will run adrift because of the computer glitch.

Many scoff at the preparations, but even behind the confidence uneasiness sometimes lurks.

In Denmark, Research Minister Birte Weiss assures: ``There is no need for a scare scenario.''

But officials in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, are worried that rioters could arm themselves with cobblestones from street projects, and ordered all road work completed by Nov. 15.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 06, 1999

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