WORLD Missile mistake terrifies Hawaii
A FALSE alarm that warned of a ballistic missile headed for Hawaii sent the islands into a panic at the weekend, with people abandoning cars on a highway and preparing to flee their homes until officials said the cellphone alert was a mistake.
Hawaii officials apologised repeatedly and said the alert was sent when someone hit the wrong button during a shift change.
They vowed to ensure would never happen again.
“We made a mistake,” said Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi.
For nearly 40 minutes, it seemed like the world was about to end in Hawaii, an island paradise already jittery over the threat of nuclear- tipped missiles from North Korea.
The emergency alert, which was sent to cellphones statewide just before 8.10am local time, said: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
On the H- 3, a major highway north of Honolulu, vehicles sat empty after drivers left them to run to a nearby tunnel after the alert showed up, the Honolulu Star- Advertiser reported.
Professional golfer Colt Knost, staying at Waikiki Beach during a PGA Tour event, said “everyone was panicking” in the lobby of his hotel.
“Everyone was running around like, ‘ What do we do?’,” he said.
Cherese Carlson, in Hono- it lulu without her children, said she called to make sure they were inside after getting the alert.
“I thought, ‘ Oh my god, this is it’,” she said.
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted there was no threat about 10 minutes after the alert, but that didn’t reach people who aren’t on the social media platform.
A revised alert informing of the “false alarm” didn’t reach cellphones until about 40 minutes later.
The White House said President Donald Trump, at his private club in Florida, was briefed on the false alert.
Hawaii Governor David Ige apologised and vowed changes.
“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,” he said.
Hawaii US Senator Brian Schatz tweeted the false alarm was “totally inexcusable”.
“There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process,” he wrote.