In the early morning of January 13th, 2018, Hawaii residents received a “ballistic missile threat” alert on their iPhones.
We know now that the alert was a false alarm, but it took the state of Hawaii 38 minutes to notify both residents and tourists that there had been a mistake, causing a panic. Realistically, defensive officials predict it would take around 20 minutes for a missile to reach Hawaii from North Korea.
Here’s the information we have about what happened on the day of this detrimental mistake:
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Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employees were checking their emergency missile warning system
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The employee was presented with two options: “Test Missile Alert” or “Missile Alert” (see picture below)
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The employee pressed “Missile Alert” and confirmed it with the press of another button, sending out the message to the public
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The Major General checked with the U.S. Pacific Command to insure there was no real threat of a missile headed towards Hawaii
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Once he confirmed there was no imminent threat, Hawaii’s Representative tweeted out that the alert was false
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38 minutes after the alert was sent out, Hawaii EMA sent out a cell phone/TV/radio message that the alert was false
After this event, Hawaii has enacted intense measures to insure this does not happen again. Here are the steps the state has taken:
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The civil defense employee was replaced
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Hawaii will not be testing their warning systems until a full investigation is complete
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Hawaii EMA now requires to people to confirm the alert before sending it out to the public
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Hawaii EMA is working on installing a software that rapidly cancels alerts
Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/01/15/hawaiis-false-missile-alert-how-happened/1033895001/