New Zealanders flocked to supermarkets and gas stations yesterday, just hours before the country became one of the first of the world to enter the new millennium -- and to test its preparations against the Y2K computer bug.
Customers stocked up on water, batteries, flashlights and canned foods ahead of the New Year on the slim chance that computer problems triggered by the start of 2000 interfered with supplies of food, water or power.
"It's very, very busy at the moment," said Glenda Rose, check-out supervisor at a Pak 'n Save supermarket chain store in Auckland, the country's largest city.
She estimated that there were 50 percent more people in the store than in past new years.
Rose said the store had run out of one hot item: candles.
Local TV footage also showed customers lining up to get their barbecue gas containers filled ahead of the festive holiday.
New Zealand, the first industrialized economy to enter the millennium, is serving as a test case for the effects of the Y2K bug for the rest of the world, and countries and companies worldwide will closely monitor it for computer problems.
The bug is linked to the possibility that computers that measure the year by its last two digits will mistake 2000 for 1900, causing systems to malfunction and everything from water services to telecommunications to crash.
New Zealand officials, however, say they are ready and early signs were good.
Colin Macdonald, a banking industry spokesman, said automatic teller machines and electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) transactions had switched over to 2000 before midnight without problems.
Macdonald said electronic banking machines were programmed to recognize the change of day earlier than midnight and were successfully registering transactions in 2000.
"ATMs went over [to Jan. 1] between 3pm and 3:30pm and the system sees them as transactions taking place on Jan. 1," Macdonald said.
Tens of millions of US dollars have been spent by the public and private sectors in finding and fixing problems, in assessing key risks and developing fully-tested contingency plans, and in having resources ready to deal with any problems as fast as possible.
On Wednesday, the country's Y2K Readiness Commission said that essential service providers, all large businesses and many smaller companies were confident they will face no significant interruptions. The commission said problems would be local and temporary, though total success was not guaranteed
New Zealand's Reserve Bank said earlier in the week that there had been no significant pattern of cash withdrawals from the country's banking sector by people concerned about possible disruptions.
Meanwhile, Australia said yesterday possible Y2K disruptions were expected to take at least three months to fix.
Some problems would take weeks to emerge but the bug should cause little disruption to the economy or major infrastructure, said Ian Campbell, parliamentary secretary to Australia's communications minister.
"I think the only thing you can guarantee is that there will be some problems," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
"What we have sought to do for the last two and a half years in the federal government is to ensure that there are no significant failures that affect the economy or people's livelihoods or way of life," Campbell said.
Australia has spent A$12 billion (US$7.8 billion) on Y2K preparations and has focused on eliminating problems in critical areas such as energy, communications, banking and finance, transportation, health and hospitals, water, sanitation and government services.
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