This is not a drill

I'm surprised that for something like this, there isn't a requirement for two people to confirm and send.

Guess this will be a matter of lesson learned. I only hope that if a missile is ever incoming, that people won't just assume that it was a mistake, since these sort of false alarms can bring on a sense of complacency for some.

I think it's fair to say that those 38 minutes were probably the longest 38 minutes Hawaiian's have had to face in their lifetimes.

I don't think I'd say it was dumb. Inexcusable comes to mind. Once that message was sent out, phones would have started ringing. And in an age of instant messaging, it is hard to understand how they took that long to send out a message that this was a mistake or error. 10 minutes? 15? Sure. But 38 minutes?

I certainly do hope they fix it and that something like this does not happen again.

I think that was the standout for me. Reading what people have been saying about what they did in that time, the main aspect that stands out is that people had no idea of what to do, no idea if there were shelters and where those shelters were, what to pack (ie water, etc). I read one account where they drove around to the local high school (no idea what the reasoning behind that was, since if it's a nuke, not sure what the gymnasium, for example, could have done to protect them), then to the local fire and police departments, and no one seemed to have a clue as to what to do. By all accounts, everyone was panicking (which is understandable), many trying to get to loved ones.

Perhaps the authorities should devise a plan and set out a) where people can go to if there are shelters and b) what to do if they aren't near a shelter.

Yeah. The thought that they did not know where it was coming to, where it would hit. How long they had left. I remember reading one account where she put her kids into a cupboard, and put a mattress on them (those poor kids would have been terrified), and others who ran outside, driving around looking for shelter and I thought to myself that this is probably the worst thing to do unless there is a tunnel of some sort nearby.. Surprised there weren't accidents, to be honest, or a higher report of heart attacks from the shock and fear. Then again, several noted they called 911 for help and the 911 line was not working (probably something they should also look at at some point) and that the phone lines went down (probably due to overuse and family calling loved ones, etc). But as you noted, if the missile was at or near their location, at that point, there isn't much they can do, but hug loved ones..

While these incidents do shine a light on what is wrong with the system so that it can be fixed, it's a pretty shitty way to weed out those mistakes.

 

Not what we are hearing. By all accounts, it was somewhat chaotic.

There are videos of students running out of university when the message was sent:
https://twitter.com/_JoeWalker/status/952288908355649536
https://twitter.com/_JoeWalker/status/952289045488390144

There are stories of people stopping their cars on the road and running around looking for shelter and telling people to run and hide. This caused a fairly hefty amount of panic, understandably so.

It was a nice morning on the Big Island of Hawaii as Kevin and Pamela Spitze drove to an art show in Hilo when the words popped up on Kevin’s cellphone screen:

“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER.”

Then it added for emphasis:

“THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

The Spitzes, who recently moved from Los Angeles to Hawaii’s Big Island, said they were in paradise but already had been living on edge given the recent inflammatory bluster between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over nuclear annihilation.

“We have such a barrage of negative stuff that has been happening that our senses have been heightened,” said Pamela Spitze, 64. “We thought it was the real thing. We are very concerned.”

For nearly 40 nail-biting minutes, so were millions of other Hawaii residents and vacationers. Video emerged of adults removing manhole covers and lowering children into sewers in a desperate attempt to escape a ballistic missile hurtling their way. People broke into tears, told relatives they loved them and scattered back to their homes and hotels, unsure what to do next.​

The announcement was on TV and radio. It was how they handled it from then on that will require a revision of how they handle the warning system:

Administrator Vern Miyagi later told a press conference that one of the employees had pushed "the wrong button" effectively sending a real alert for a ballistic missile, rather than initiating the intended internal test.

The alert was sent to people's mobile phones as well as television and radio channels.

Within minutes, the US Pacific Command was able to verify that there was no missile launch and the EMA cancelled the alert to those mobile phones who had not yet received the message.

Hawaii EMA's sent out a message on its Twitter and Facebook channels about 10 minutes after the initial alert saying "NO missile threat to Hawaii". But the message didn't reach Hawaiians who are not on social media platforms and many were still waiting in shelters for information.

Hawaii Governor David Ige retweeted the message to spread the word but many people remained in the dark as to what was happening.

After 38 minutes of panic, the EMA received authorisation to send out a second alert to people's mobile phones saying the incident was "a false alarm" and confirming "there is no missile threat to Hawaii". ​

Unless people knew to check those particular twitter and facebook pages, they would not have received that cancellation 10 minutes later. And by what I am reading, people did not know it was a false alarm until a long time later, when the second push notification was sent to mobile phones telling them it was a mistake.

As for emergency workers, there are reports that people called 911 and no one picked up the phone...

Until the all-clear was given, people desperately tried to get information and swamped the 911 system.

“The bad thing is we tried to call 911 and we were really frustrated that nobody picked up the phone,” said Pamela Spitze, a retired community college training program staffer. “It took about 40 minutes before we were told it was a mistake.”​

And while that is probably because the lines were swamped, but it would have added to the sense of panic.