Sunday February 28 3:06 PM ET

Americans Urged To Stock Up Before Y2K Strikes

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans should prepare for the year 2000 computer bug like they would a hurricane, by stocking up on canned food and bottled water in case vital services are cut off, senators leading a congressional study of the problem said Sunday.

Global trade could also be disrupted because major U.S. trading partners, including Japan and oil producers Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, may not be able to address the computer glitch in time, Utah Republican Sen. Robert Bennett and Connecticut Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd said.

``This problem is real,'' Bennett, chairman of the Senate's special committee on the so-called Y2K problem, told CBS's ''Face the Nation.'' ``This will not be the end of the world as we know it. But we have to stay on top of it.''

The problem is that many computers as now configured cannot recognize the year 2000.

To save expensive disk space, early programmers tracked dates with only the last two numbers of the year. If not fixed, many computers will read ``00'' as 1900. That could cause many computers to crash or generate errors come Jan. 1, 2000.

Bennett and Dodd, who is vice chairman of the Senate's Y2K committee, are expected to release their report on the computer problem Tuesday.

According to a draft copy of the report, the nation's airports started preparations too late, and shipments of goods and services by sea could be disrupted because the maritime industry was running behind.

``It's not unwise for people to do a little stockpiling,'' Dodd told NBC's ``Meet the Press.''

He said people should buy bottled water, canned goods and other essentials as they might to prepare for a ``good storm, a hurricane'' that would last two to three days.

Dodd said people should also keep copies of their financial records in case banks run into unforeseen problems. But he said that banking problems were unlikely.

There was no need for people to buy electricity generators or stockpile propane because a prolonged nationwide blackout was unlikely, Bennett said.

The committee's draft report added that due to limited resources and a lack of awareness, rural and inner-city hospitals across the United States would be at high risk. It said more than 90 percent of doctors' offices had yet to address the problem.

The draft report concluded that more serious problems could strike other countries, including some major U.S. trading partners far behind in Y2K readiness.

``Planes will not fall out of the sky, but disruption of flights and global trade between some areas and countries may occur,'' the draft report said.

The committee singled out major oil producers Venezuela and Saudi Arabia for failing to prepare for the computer glitch.

Japan and Mexico were also at serious risk, along with France, Germany, Brazil, Italy and Spain, according to the report.

Bennett and Dodd said the U.S. nuclear arsenal appeared to be safe, but the computer bug could cause weapons systems in other countries to malfunction. Dodd said it was critical that Russia, Pakistan, India, China and other nations work together on the problem.

But both senators said there was no way to tell how serious the disruptions would be.

``When we get to New Year's Eve, everybody, no matter how informed we think we are, is going to be holding his breath,'' Bennett said.