Saturday 23 June 2012

Economic melt down - latest RBS banking 'glitch'

We have all witnessed in the past 18 months or so the issues and problems facing many countries in North America, Europe and many other areas...as many know, it does not take much for a melt down in financial markets...
Let us take oil and fuel as an example...the slightest cut in supplies to transportation companies or to the end user results in total chaos down the line...did you know that the grocery supermarket chains for example, only have a turn around of 72 hours of food supplies! The slightest cut in this chain means disaster for the person on the street - no fuel, no tranpsort to re supply and stock the shelves of your local supermarket.
The rush would have been started in the first 24 hours - = empty shelves.

Another example has recently hit home to UK people with accounts in RBS associated banks, Nat-west etc, where they say a few days ago a 'technical glitch'; resulted in no balances, account holders unable to see if their pay has gone in or mortgages gone out, or indeed if any mony is in there a all.
This has resulted in many people being unable to withdraw money, unable to buy food or fuel and many people in the process of buying houses or moving...absolutely stuck in mid stream..

The banks have said they would help as far as they can and would take the unprecedent step of opening on sundays..tomorrow.
However, this has led to much panic in the streets, people trying to buy food and supplies etc...if they can..
Many believe, and I tend to agree, that this 'glitch' may have been sonme sort of Hack, and authorities afraid to admit it...whatever the cause, much concern and panic has hit the streets of UK this weekend..

Here is an article from Tech week Europe - with some comments from its readers
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/natwest-rbs-banking-systems-fail-83561

NatWest and RBS customers have been hit by a systems glitch that means many cannot make or receive payments, whilst a number of online services are down.
Customer account balances have not been updated, leaving many concerned over when they will receive funds they are due. NatWest and RBS are part of the same group and share IT infrastructure in various ways

Customer fears

Customers have flocked to Twitter to vent their fear and frustration over the technical fail. One told TechWeekEurope they were concerned about not being able to buy food.
“I rely on my money being there today as I was going to buy food! All we have is bread & cheese in this flat,” complained Heather Cranmer. “Plus, bills start coming out tomorrow. Is NatWest going to give me some food to tide me over? Are they going to pay the late fees on my bills as it’s their fault?”


As we all know, it only takes a hiccup or a sneeze before we all fall down...!

Friday 22 June 2012

Are we expecting a storm-filled summer?

Apologies for the break in transmission - normal service will be resumed ASAP...especially as it appears the next few months look to be a particularly 'interesting' time weatherwise, not forgetting possible economic and financial 'crashes'...just be prepped like the Boy scouts!

Well, Hurricane season started on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts recently, and it does look like there are a number of gathering storms out there..keep an eye out on those..

In the meantime, here is an interesting article from accuweather.com regarding New York and the summer storms..
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/new-york-tops-hurricane-storm/66639

In brief...
The 2012 CoreLogic Storm-Surge Report released on June 7, 2012, puts New York, N.Y., at the top of their storm surge risk list with potential hurricane damage that exceeds $168 billion.
CoreLogic is a financial, property and consumer information, analytics and services company that works with government agencies, insurance companies, mortgage companies and others, according to the CoreLogic website.
The report looked at the potential damage to structures along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S. due to storm surge from hurricanes.
Overall, the report estimates that more than 4 million U.S. homes are at risk of hurricane storm-surge flooding in 2012.
The estimates were made using CoreLogic's database of properties that are located within the perimeter of predetermined storm-surge polygon.

Keep looking in, I will be updating the survival and preparedness blog at regular intervals...for more on preparation and what to do in a variety of natural and man-made disasters go nof further than my preparedness site...
www.ambilacuk.com/safesurvival

B safe B wise B prepared Survive!