For years I produced survival kits for hunters, fishermen, and pilots. I also taught wilderness survival in the area of Wells Gray Park in mid-BC. I hunted alone because I rarely trusted someone behind me with a gun. My survival skills carried over for years and came in handy when Y2K began to approach.

I was fascinated by the implications of a failure so massive. I studied for almost two years and began to interact with major IT companies and other large companies to help them be prepared. As you probably know, like climate change, the population was split on the issue of Y2K. Families were split, husbands and wives were split and fights occurred.

The half who did not buy the story refused to prepare at all and rubbed it in the faces of those who did. My wife and I were friends with a couple who sat in front of us in church. Bob was a key player in the IBM management team so when I could corner him, prior to dinner at our house, I asked him how IBM would fare at midnight January 1st, 2000.

He glanced at our wives, leaned toward me and whispered in my ear. He said; "We're screwed". By this time I was talking to several major companies who were spending fortunes on code writing and hardware/software additions and replacements. Ultimately over a trillion dollars was spent North America wide. That is the only reason the wheels didn't come off at midnight.

90+ % of the global population thought we had skated right through the so-called Y2k fiasco. Here is the real story. My wife and I went away over Christmas and New Years. We borrowed a cottage on the Niagra Escarpment and hooked up our well-stocked trailer, knowing we may not be coming back for a long time.

We drove out of the bush New Years Eve and stayed at a motel to watch midnight arrive across all the time zones. Each time a time zone made it by midnight, Dianne would look at me with that 'told you so' look. As New York and eventually Seattle went by, I too had figured that I had got it dead wrong.

When I arrived back at my office on the 3rd of January, I had 80 messages from IT companies and several of the larger companies I had consulted with. We logged over 2,100 failures across North America in the first three weeks of January. The companies whose systems had failed did not tell a soul beyond their IT teams. Fixes were done and companies brought online over the following couple of weeks.

Many of the failures were significant and many were small and simple but over 2,000 failures. What would have happened if all the companies that had shelled out millions had stuck their collective heads in the sand, assuming nothing would happen?

I was never a major prepper or a fear monger. I just appealed to the common sense of those audiences I spoke to. Every human should have some supplies including food, water, light, warmth, clothes, protection, and barter. It just makes sense. For those who don't prepare, you will be the ones who take from those who have.

Read my book and experience the common sense approach to making sure you and your family are safe. In any serious emergency, get away from the city as fast as you can. The peace of mind I have, knowing I am ready to protect my family, is well worth any jeers I get from those who think being ready is dumb. Not being ready is dumb.

Here is a copy of 'Is My Family in Danger'. I hope it helps you. Disregard the page at the end offering my help to prepare. I am not preparing those packages anymore. I will advise those who need help for free.

If you would like a free copy, respond to this post and I will send you the PDF.

Norman J Ball
Global Rescue