For at least 13 minutes, Hawaii residents got the biggest scare of their lives. At 8:07am Hawaiian time, an emergency message was pulsed out over the cellular nets and television networks that said a nuclear ballistic missile was inbound.
This triggered a panic as terrified citizens ran to seek shelter. The state’s Emergency Management Agency said that the reaction in the state was full blown panic. Videos show children being put in storm drains for shelter as people tried to find safe haven. The panic went for about 38 minutes before another message got pulsed.
The message was a false alarm, and there were then several different sources that repeatedly tried to calm the frightened populace and resume business as usual in the Aloha State.
NO missile threat to Hawaii.
— Hawaii EMA (@Hawaii_EMA) January 13, 2018
CNN reported that Hawaii’s Governor, David Ige said that human error caused the alert to go out. Apparently someone pushed a wrong button during a shift change at the EMA. The EMA pulsed out the second message to everyone confirming that this incident was indeed a false alarm.
Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard and Commander David Benham both made statements confirming that there was no threat. US Senator from Hawaii Brian Schatz also took to Twitter with these messages:
There is no missile threat. It was a false alarm based on a human error. There is nothing more important to Hawai‘i than professionalizing and fool-proofing this process.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 13, 2018
AGAIN FALSE ALARM. What happened today is totally inexcusable. The whole state was terrified. There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 13, 2018
The crisis is over, and no doubt there are many thousands of people breathing very gratefully today.
Now the situation is being investigated by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and FEMA. When more information comes about it, we will report it.
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