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14th Jan 2018

Full details on the chilling missile warning that people in Hawaii received

Paul Moore

Hawaii was in a state of panic for about 30 minutes.

Following the recent alert that about an incoming ballistic missile that sent Hawaii into a panic, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) has confirmed that there was no ballistic missile and that there were no computer hacks to the HI-EMA system. The cause of the false alarm was human error.

The alert, which was sent to cellphones, said there was a threat “inbound to Hawaii” and that residents should seek shelter. “This is not a drill,” it added.

The phone message notification, all in capital letters, went out at 08:07 (18:07 GMT).

It was corrected by email 18 minutes later but there was no follow-up mobile text for 38 minutes, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports.

The HI-EMA have released a statement regarding the events that unfolded:

“HI-EMA has already taken measures to ensure that an incident such as the one that occurred this morning does not happen again. HI-EMA has also started a review of cancellation procedures to inform the public immediately if a cancellation is warranted. We understand that false alarms such as this can erode public confidence in our emergency notification systems. We understand the serious nature of the warning alert systems and the need to get this right 100% of the time.”

“I know first-hand how today’s false alarm affected all of us here in Hawaii, and I am sorry for the pain and confusion it caused. I, too, am extremely upset about this and am doing everything I can
do to immediately improve our emergency management systems, procedures, and staffing,” said Governor. David Ige.

In an interview with CNN, Ige elaborated on the mistake. “It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift, and an employee pushed the wrong button,” he said.

Ige then said that he was meeting with top defense and emergency management officials from the state “to determine what caused this morning’s false alarm and to prevent it from happening again.”

Ajit Pai, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, announced the investigation on Twitter.

Ige also apologised for the “the pain and confusion it caused” while promising to undertake a whole review of the HI-EMA operational procedure. He also pleaded for better relations with North Korea “so that warnings and sirens can become a thing of the past.”

The full timeline of events can be found here

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