OMG!!

“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

Saturday, shortly after 8 a.m. local time, a push notification in Hawaii alerted those in the state to a pending missile attack. The message was also texted to cellphones and shown on Hawaiian televisions stations. Although authorities almost immediately knew it was a false alarm, it took 40 minutes to alert the public that a mistake had been made. Thousands must have thought they had minutes to live. It was like being in the cold war era, but this was not a drill. In the end it was chalked up to human error. The message was suppose to be sent internally at the emergency center, but a technician inadvertently  broadcast it statewide. Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) apologized for the pain and confusion the  alert had caused and said it had been a mistake made during a standard procedure at the changeover of a shift and an employee pushed the wrong button. The President was briefed concerning the debacle, but at this time has not issued a statement. According to a report in NPR, “Since the false alarm this morning, the agency has introduced two new safeguards: a two-person activation rule for both tests and missile launch notifications, in addition to an automatic cancellation command that can recall an error within seconds.”