Kay Goss, associate director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on Friday called for cooperation between world emergency managers in preparation for what she termed the most "unnatural hazard" ever — the Year 2000 problem.

Giving a keynote speech during the 3rd U.S. Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response (EMPREP) series of seminars and exhibitions, held at the MIPRO Exhibition Hall in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district from Wednesday through Friday, Goss expressed the need for "everyone to work (together) to ensure (the Y2K problem) will be remembered as the world's last headache."

She also advised emergency managers around the world to raise public awareness and "let people know you are prepared," warning also of the "problem of the five p's — balancing prudent preparation to a possible public panic."

Meanwhile, Takehiko Aoyagi, director of the International University of Japan's Global Communication Center in Tokyo, pointed to a basic difference in the U.S. and Japanese approach to the issue, saying Japan sees raising public awareness as a sure way of setting off panic, not preventing it.

"FEMA is telling U.S. citizens they should be concerned," he said. "But in Japan, the Transport Ministry and other agencies and ministries say nothing because they think it (will result in) panic."

Aoyagi also commented on a tendency among officials and the mass media in Japan to say "everything will be done in perfection ... and that we can rest assured nothing will happen, everything will be safe and no breakdowns will occur. I can assure you, this is not true."

Sponsored by the Commercial Service of the U.S. Embassy, EMPREP also featured seminars dealing with other Y2K issues, such as the legal implications for corporations in Japan not becoming Y2K compliant.

Other seminars provided insights into natural disaster prevention including earthquakes in the U.S. and Japan.