Fake North Korean Missile Attack on Hawaii Causes Mass Panic

Here is the aftermath from the mass panic caused on Hawaii from a fake North Korea missile attack notice sent to everyone’s smartphones:

The false emergency alert apparently happened because “the wrong button was pushed,” Hawaii House Speaker Scott Saiki said in a statement.

“This system we have been told to rely upon failed and failed miserably today,” Saiki said. “I am deeply troubled by this misstep that could have had dire consequences.”

He added, “Apparently, the wrong button was pushed and it took over 30 minutes for a correction to be announced. Parents and children panicked during those 30 minutes.”

The emergency alert was sent to people’s mobile phones in Hawaii starting at about 8:07 a.m. local time with the startling words all in caps, “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”

Shortly after, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command, Dave Benham, told ABC News in a statement that no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii was detected.

“Earlier message was sent in error. State of Hawaii will send out a correction message as soon as possible,” Benham said.  (…….)

Gov. David Ige said at a press conference Saturday afternoon that the error happened during a routine procedure that occurs as workers are changing shifts.

“An error was made in emergency management which allowed this false alarm to be sent,” Ige said. “It was a procedure that occurs at the change of shift, enabling [us] to make sure that the system is working, and an employee pushed the wrong button.”  [Good Morning America]

You can read more at the link, but you would think sending out an alert like this would not be as simple as clicking a mouse button to prevent a mistake like this from happening.  Additionally the fact that it took so long to send a correction message shows whoever was coming on and off shift were not even aware of the error they made while everyone else in Hawaii was in a mass panic:

“We grabbed all the food and water we had, the kids grabbed their stuffed animals and we headed to the lobby,” Mulder said. “Kids crying everywhere, no one knew what was happening. We made our way to an internal bathroom and huddled there with some other people. It was probably 30 minutes between the alert and when we knew it was a false alarm.”

One video making the rounds on social media showed children being lowered into a storm drain for safety.  [Fortune]

It is not good with the emergency management team for the State of Hawaii doesn’t even know there is an emergency going on to fix their error until 38 minutes after the fact.  And if anyone was wondering, it did not take very long for Democrats to blame President Trump for this:

Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, one of the first to confirm that the missile alert was false, later said on CNN that Trump was “taking too long” to deal with tensions surrounding North Korea, which contributed to dialing up the panic from Saturday’s incident.

“You’d be angry just like I am,” said Gabbard, a Democrat and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.  [Fortune]

As if North Korea did not make threats against Hawaii when Barack Obama was President.

Probably the worst thing about this is now people are not going to trust the warnings they receive from the State of Hawaii anymore because of this incompetence.

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setnaffa
6 years ago

Not a huge Trump fan because of my own political attitudes and opinions.

However, those attacking the President are Democrats tryong to draw attention away from the alert failure by Democrats and the recent news about Hillary, Comey, and others.

C̲̘̫̩̪͉̱̔ͥͫ́ͅh̠͕̪̐̇̚i̘̩̿̃ͭ̀̉c̗̯̹̝̱͕̦̮̏̓ͪk͈̯̘̬̂͊̾̽ͤ̑͆e̝͕̳͍͍ͣͯ̏̓ͣͯn̠̩ͭ͆̆͑̍̚H̙̰̲̠͇ͯͥ͑ͧe̼̓̾ͯ̓ͫ͐̌͋a̯̠͇͕̗̟ͥ̽ͅd̩̜̀ͭ́͋ͭ
C̲̘̫̩̪͉̱̔ͥͫ́ͅh̠͕̪̐̇̚i̘̩̿̃ͭ̀̉c̗̯̹̝̱͕̦̮̏̓ͪk͈̯̘̬̂͊̾̽ͤ̑͆e̝͕̳͍͍ͣͯ̏̓ͣͯn̠̩ͭ͆̆͑̍̚H̙̰̲̠͇ͯͥ͑ͧe̼̓̾ͯ̓ͫ͐̌͋a̯̠͇͕̗̟ͥ̽ͅd̩̜̀ͭ́͋ͭ
6 years ago

It probably was an actual exercise…

…to see how fast the whiny snowflake population would take to grab a daypack full of energy drink and organic tofu and then jam their crotchfruit down a sewer drain while blinded by tears of terror after years of making fun of preppers.

Andy
Andy
6 years ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if someones sues for psychological trauma.

Smokes
Smokes
6 years ago

Are you sure you want to issue a missile warning?
Yes No
□ Don’t show me this again.

I think someone checked that box at the bottom… don’t check that box. 🙂

Mcgeehee
Mcgeehee
6 years ago

I live in Honolulu, got the text, but didn’t believe it for one second. The norks were just invited to the Winter Olympics; the two Koreas just began talking; provocation-wise, nothing is going on; it’s 0138 nork time (too early for missile launches); and the very idea that HI is a target to begin with is almost laughable.

If that were a tsunami warning, I’d a been hightailing my ass up the H3. THEN, I could understand everyone being so upset when that turned out to be a false alarm. But a missile launch? c’mon you bunch of pineapple heads, think about it — that’s right up there with a zombie alert.

@GI, thanks for calling out Tulsi Gabbard’s criticism on Trump. She’s been in office now for five years and never once called out Obama for the same thing. Now, all of a sudden, it’s Trump’s fault?

Tagum City Tim
6 years ago

Quite a few people are set to lose their jobs over this one. Coming off a mid shift and triggering this kind of fear makes some of the pranks I pulled when I was in the Navy seem quite childish.

Mcgeehee
Mcgeehee
6 years ago

Correction to nork time, 0338.

JoeC
JoeC
6 years ago

What good is having a missile alert warning system if everyone will just ignore it as just another false alarm when or if it needs to be used for real in the future?

BTW, South Korea has civil defense warning drills sometimes twice a year. The advice is to take shelter, but if you’re on a congested highway or driving in a congested city no one leaves their cars. Millions of people just sit there and wait it out.

BTW2, I’m old enough to have been in school for the American civil defense drills of the 60’s. Yes, we were actually told to get under our desks when the nukes were coming. Even at a very young age I knew it was all B.S.

Hot Stuff
Hot Stuff
6 years ago

If there is a silver lining to this, maybe it will spur some folks to give more thought to what they will do in the event of an emergency.

J6Junkie
J6Junkie
6 years ago

0338 is the perfect time for a NORK launch…

Smokes
Smokes
6 years ago

0330 – 0430 is when I go out to do my illegal stuff… Even most of the night owls are turning it in by then and early birds haven’t woken up yet. 🙂

J6Junkie
J6Junkie
6 years ago

I heard the guy who sent that alert was merely reassigned. Wtf.

setnaffa
6 years ago

J6, the Democrats don’t fire Civil Service folks even when they kill people at the VA…

C̣̣͉̼̰̥͋͐̃͐ͫh̪͈͈ͬ͋̉̉̒ͯͅi̲̭͓̙̦̘̮ͥ͛ͨ̒̐c̣͇͓̘̒ͥ̎ͪ̈̉͑̍̿ḳ̤͈̻̎̋̅̈́͛e͎͎̖̩̠̥͈̜͂̑͑͒̆͗n̺̙̟̗̻̬̝͗̌̌̈̏ͦ̑H͉̣͚̩̿̉ͥ̍́ë͖̞͈̐ͣa̼̘ͧͧd͙̤̒́
C̣̣͉̼̰̥͋͐̃͐ͫh̪͈͈ͬ͋̉̉̒ͯͅi̲̭͓̙̦̘̮ͥ͛ͨ̒̐c̣͇͓̘̒ͥ̎ͪ̈̉͑̍̿ḳ̤͈̻̎̋̅̈́͛e͎͎̖̩̠̥͈̜͂̑͑͒̆͗n̺̙̟̗̻̬̝͗̌̌̈̏ͦ̑H͉̣͚̩̿̉ͥ̍́ë͖̞͈̐ͣa̼̘ͧͧd͙̤̒́
6 years ago

There is no silver lining.

…and most people don’t deserve one.

Every time I talk to a foreign Englishee teacher living in Seoul… a population sample overrepresenting “educated” leftist snowflakes with useless liberal degrees, they can go on and on about how madman racist impulsive Trump is going to push his big red button and bring war and devistation to the Korean peninsula while costing millions of lives…

…yet if you ask how many weeks of food, water, and cooking gas they keep in their apartment, so they can shelter in place and wait out this inevitable Trump-inspired Armageddon… well nothing but blank looks and a suspicion I might be a paranoid alt-right prepper.

…so most people deserve what they get…

…hopefully a few minutes to reconsider their priorities and politics just before they are eaten by a mob of hungry Koreans trying to make their way south in a wave of ten million refugees.

J6Junkie
J6Junkie
6 years ago

I still laugh at the people hoarding Shin ramyeon for emegencies.

Ole Tanker
Ole Tanker
6 years ago

I’m going to invent Dehydrated Kimchee and make a fortune!

C̣̣͉̼̰̥͋͐̃͐ͫh̪͈͈ͬ͋̉̉̒ͯͅi̲̭͓̙̦̘̮ͥ͛ͨ̒̐c̣͇͓̘̒ͥ̎ͪ̈̉͑̍̿ḳ̤͈̻̎̋̅̈́͛e͎͎̖̩̠̥͈̜͂̑͑͒̆͗n̺̙̟̗̻̬̝͗̌̌̈̏ͦ̑H͉̣͚̩̿̉ͥ̍́ë͖̞͈̐ͣa̼̘ͧͧd͙̤̒́
C̣̣͉̼̰̥͋͐̃͐ͫh̪͈͈ͬ͋̉̉̒ͯͅi̲̭͓̙̦̘̮ͥ͛ͨ̒̐c̣͇͓̘̒ͥ̎ͪ̈̉͑̍̿ḳ̤͈̻̎̋̅̈́͛e͎͎̖̩̠̥͈̜͂̑͑͒̆͗n̺̙̟̗̻̬̝͗̌̌̈̏ͦ̑H͉̣͚̩̿̉ͥ̍́ë͖̞͈̐ͣa̼̘ͧͧd͙̤̒́
6 years ago

J6: Shin ramyeon is better than wishful thinking in the event of a food emergency.

Ol Tanker: There is already dehydrated kimchee… and it is quite good… but different than kimchee… but quite good.

liz
liz
6 years ago

Looks like there was ANOTHER false missile report in Japan (but that one was turned off after five minutes, not 38 minutes).
Weird.
Maybe these aren’t “accidents”?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/days-after-hawaii-alert-mishap-japan-sends-false-alarm-about-n837921

MTB Rider
MTB Rider
6 years ago

Not to be outdone, Japan jumps in on the false missile launch game!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/japanese-news-outlet-mistakenly-sends-134446421.html

A Japanese broadcaster on Tuesday erroneously sent a mobile app alert announcing that North Korea had launched a missile.

“North Korea likely to have launched missile. The government J alert: evacuate inside the building or underground,” warned the alert, sent by the broadcaster NHK.

NHK issued an apology minutes later and said the alert had been sent by mistake.

Dang, sending out false missile attack reports are the new figet spinner. Let’s hope this fad passes as quickly. 😉

~Scoops McGee

MTB Rider
MTB Rider
6 years ago

Damn! Liz beat me to the punch!
I hang my Scoops McGee hat and press pass in shame…

liz
liz
6 years ago

Squee! I got the info out first!
That almost never happens. 😀

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