'He feels really bad': Civil Defense employee who sparked terror in Hawaii by accidentally triggering ballistic MISSILE warning will be 'retrained' say officials after thousands fled to bomb shelters
A Civil Defense employee is set to be retrained after a shocking blunder on Saturday morning, when a mistaken alert warning of an inbound ballistic missile sent thousands fleeing for shelter.
The false alarm was caused by a Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employee who 'pushed the wrong buttons' during an internal drill timed to coincide with a shift handover at 8.07am. The all-clear phone alert was not sent until 38 minutes later.
Incredibly, officials said the employee who made the mistake wasn't aware of it until mobile phones in the command center began displaying the alert.
'This guy feels bad, right. He's not doing this on purpose - it was a mistake on his part and he feels terrible about it,' said EMA Administrator Vern Miyagi in a press conference Saturday afternoon.
Miyagi, a retired Army major general, said the employee had been with the agency for 'a while' and that he would be 'counseled and drilled so this never happens again' - but stopped short of saying whether there would be disciplinary measures.
Hawaii Governor David Ige apologized at the press conference: '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.'
Panicked Hawaiians ran for their lives and even lowered loved ones through manhole covers after receiving this alert at 8.07am local time: 'BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL'.
A similar message flashed up on local television networks and brought live sports games to a halt. Actor Jim Carrey, like many others, said he woke up thinking he had 'ten minutes to live'.
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.
Fearing a nuclear attack, terrified residents and tourists including basketball legend Magic Johnson flocked to shelters and into their garages.
Golfers in Honolulu for the US PGA Tour's Sony Open were also thrown into panic and confusion by the mistaken alert
'Under mattresses in the bathtub with my wife, baby and in laws,' tweeted American golfer John Peterson. 'Please lord let this bomb threat not be real.'
The mistake was corrected by government agencies on Twitter 12 minutes later but it took 38 minutes for another phone alert to be issued confirming to residents that it was a false alarm. Some say they never received a second phone alert at all.
Miyagi said that there was no template in the system for an alert retraction, and so the all-clear message had to be manually entered and activated, accounting for some of the delay.
The EMA administrator said that cooling tensions between North and South Korea should have been a signal to residents that the alert was mistaken, urging Hawaiians to 'keep informed on what's going on on the tension between the two countries and monitor that.'
'I deeply apologize for the trouble and heartbreak that we caused today,' said Miyagi. 'We've spent the last few months trying to get ahead of this whole threat, so that we could provide as much notification and preparation to the public. We made a mistake.'
Officials are suspending further drills until the incident is fully investigated.
State emergency managers have also already implemented a two-person verification for alerts and an automated all-clear signal that can be used in the future.
When it became clear on Saturday morning that the ballistic missile alert had been a false alarm, the public's panic turned to fury.
'Imagine this for 37 agonizing minutes before it is deemed a false alarm,' said one person.
TIMELINE OF HAWAII BALLISTIC MISSILE ALERT ERROR
Honolulu is seen on Saturday morning, when a false alert of an inbound ballistic missile sent residents running for shelter in terror
Lawmakers slammed the mistake as 'inexcusable' and said 'the whole state was terrified'.
Another critic said the delay in phone alerts meant that only people with access to social media would have known it was a false alarm straight away.
'It took until 8.45am to state it was a false alarm. 37 minutes where anyone in Hawaii who doesn't sit on Twitter dot com all day thought their island might be incinerated.'
Governor David Ige apologized for the false alarm of an inbound ballistic missile
'Fire people. Fix it,' one outraged commentator said.
At the same time as the phone alert, an emergency alert was broadcast across radio and television networks.
The TV and radio alert told viewers and listeners: 'If you are outdoors, seek immediate shelter in a building. Remain indoors well away from windows.
'If you are driving, pull safely to the side of the road and seek shelter.'
The second message, sent at 8.45am, said: 'There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii. Repeat. False Alarm.'
Calls from frightened residents inundated Civil Defense immediately asking for more information or advice after the first alert was issued.
People who say they got through to the office were then told it was a mistake that was caused by an employee who 'pushed the wrong buttons' during a drill.
One woman called 911 in panic and said she was told by the operator that staff were performing a drill when 'someone pushed the wrong buttons'.
'Called 911...Operator said it's a drill of Civil Defense Emergency System but someone pushed the wrong buttons..
'No missile is headed toward the State of Hawaii REPEAT....NO MISSILE IS HEADED TOWARD THE STATE OF HAWAII.'
A Hawaii Civil Defense official is seen above on Saturday writing instructions for dispatchers fielding calls from terrified locals
Hawaii Civil Defense startled Hawaii residents early Saturday, by sending a Civil Defense alert via cellular phones that a nuclear missile was heading towards Hawaii and to take cover
FCC LAUNCHES INQUIRY INTO FALSE HAWAII MISSILE ALERT
One Twitter user wrote: 'My family was hiding in the garage. My mom and sister were crying. It was a false alarm, but betting a lot of people are shaken.'
'Talking to loved ones in Hawaii, the reality of the situation is everyone thought they were going to die for 40-minutes,' tweeted another Twitter user.
'Let that sink in. Extremely traumatizing and please send your love to everyone there.'
Current NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns tweeted: ‘Words cannot describe the relief my family and I feel that the alarm in Hawaii was false.
‘My girlfriend was born and raised in Hawaii and with most of her family there, the panic was real.
‘We should thank god for every day no matter the struggles and tell our family we love them.’
CNN host Jake Tapper tweeted: 'So sorry for all the people in Hawaii who went through that - we know someone who's there with her family.
'Crying in closet texting goodbyes to loved ones, husband shielding their baby. Sounds traumatic. Hang in there, folks.'
Maureen McCormick tweeted: 'My family in Hawaii got a phone alert and hid in the bathroom with kids for a good 10 minutes thinking "This is going to be it."
'So terrifying.'
Lorenza Ingram, a producer for CNN, told the network: 'We got alerts on our phone… we opened our sliding glass door to look out onto the beach, we saw probably 10 different families running, not walking, running back to their room.'
Another CNN producer, David Shortell, told the network: 'There was a bit of running and shouting after [the alert was received]… People were nervous.'
Shortell described 'a pretty harrowing 15 minutes' huddling in a garage with families and young children.
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