Just another day in paradise - until 8:08am

[Koolau]

DW had a training session to attend this AM at 6:30 (don't ask.) I had to take her since we had an estate planning seminar to attend right afterward. At 8:08AM, everyone's phone on the Island lit up with this message:

BALLISTIC MISSLE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

If you've ever been to Hawaii, you'll realize there aren't a lot of underground areas to seek shelter (hey, it's a rock!). So we hung out in an interior hallway. Several folks off the street came in and joined us (a group of bike riders and some folks working on the building.) Within minutes, the phone lines on the Island were tied up, so no info was getting through.

Within a couple of minutes, I got bored and went to listen to the radio in the car. KSSK is one of our "official" emergency radio stations, and they were just playing music as were all the others (or sports, talk, etc.). No sirens sounded, so I figured pretty quickly we were looking at a false alarm.

However, KSSK didn't even mention the event until after 8:30AM IIRC. They finally came on and said it was a false alarm. At about 8:42, the same emergency system sent another message that the alert was false. KSSK pointed out that the phone system (including their "special" lines) were down due to all the phone traffic on the Island. They could not get confirmation for quite some time due to this problem of phone traffic.

Lots of stuff on the radio, local media, all the major national news outlets within an hour. I don't much care about the details at this time as I'm sure the story will shift until the full truth rises to the top.

Just thought you'd find this interesting, but YMMV.

 

[tmm2good]

That was crazy, I just heard about it on my way into work. Checked a little bit, looks like human error at the government office that sent out the message.

 

[travelover]

You seem pretty calm. This would have scared the hell out of me, given what has been going on with North Korea lately.

 

[jjquantz]

DW and I are on the Big Island scouting it for possible retirement. I was on the golf course when the alarm was sounded. DW spent the next several minutes trying to calm the older lady in the downstairs unit and contacting our daughters trying to get a read on the reality of the situation. Not a good way to start the day. Later, when I asked the group of guys I was golfing with, "What is the one thing that you don't like about living on the Big Island?" One guy responded, "it's within North Korean missile range."

 

[Koolau]

Not to be too flip about this incident, but my big concern was "What if I survive - then what?" Ground zero seems like a pretty good way to go, but again, YMMV.

 

[marko]

I try not to believe much of anything I see on my phone/internet/TV/newspaper.

Every snowstorm in New England brings warnings of death, destruction and 'end of life as we know it' from the local news folks, so maybe I've just gotten numb.

 

[HadEnuff]

DW and I are on the Big Island scouting it for possible retirement. I was on the golf course when the alarm was sounded. DW spent the next several minutes trying to calm the older lady in the downstairs unit and contacting our daughters trying to get a read on the reality of the situation. Not a good way to start the day. Later, when I asked the group of guys I was golfing with, "What is the one thing that you don't like about living on the Big Island?" One guy responded, "it's within North Korean missile range."

DW and I are heading to the Big Island in 17 days. We are going to spend the month of February there. I was in Kauai for a short week 30+ years ago, and DW has never been to any of the Hawaiian Islands before. Her daughter is jealous that we are going, and was the one to tell us about the alarm. She suggested we cancel our trip. I hope she was joking.
I hope you will share with the FIRE community on a thread, how your time on Hawaii went, what you learned, etc etc.

 

[HadEnuff]

Oh my goodness. Immediately after I posted my above post, DW's aforementioned daughter called, and she is serious. She seriously thinks we should cancel our trip because of a false alarm. I'm going to have to have a talk with her. She's a great person, and we have a good relationship. I think we need to talk.(headslap emoji goes here)

 

[HadEnuff]

Koolau, I do have a serious question for you. Just wondering, how does one tell the difference between an incoming nuclear missile alarm (which I would ignore) and a tsunami alarm (which I would not ignore)?

 

[gerntz]

This would have scared the hell out of me, given what has been going on with North Korea lately.

Exactly.

 

[HadEnuff]

In 4th grade my teacher at a Catholic Parochial school, during the Cuban Missile Crisis advised us that if we saw a flash in the sky, we should crawl under our desks. We all know that nothing will protect you in a nuclear blast like a 4th grade desk. What she should have said was " if you see a flash in the sky, you will have about 3 seconds to be happy, because you will soon be with God in Heaven"...
Being a member of the Cold War Generation (aka "Baby Boomers"), if I had been smart enough to know what the heck was going on with the sirens and everything, I probably would have thought "son of a bitch. This is really happening. " Maybe I would have had the moment to reflect on the irony of just happening to be in Hawaii, at just the wrong time. And since I have a tendency to think of totally inappropriate things that only I find funny, I probably would have thought about that 4th grade desk, and how nice it would be if I could crawl underneath it.

 

[bbbamI]

You seem pretty calm. This would have scared the hell out of me, given what has been going on with North Korea lately.

No shizzz... It seemed like most of the air was gone from my lungs just reading Koolau's post.

 

[CaptTom]

That's my plan in the event of attack. Break into the elementary school and crawl under a desk!

Seriously, I'll bet there's a ton of valuable real-world experience to be gained from the Hawaii "experiment." Thanks Koolau, for participating.

Horrible for those involved, but I hope some good does come from it.

 

[Alan]

Koolau, I do have a serious question for you. Just wondering, how does one tell the difference between an incoming nuclear missile alarm (which I would ignore) and a tsunami alarm (which I would not ignore)?

From what I read the message seemed to be clear, but I don’t really know.

 

[Meadbh]

I have a theory that it was not really a mistake, but a drill.

 

[audreyh1]

I have a theory that it was not really a mistake, but a drill.

Perhaps in a way, but saying it was false afterwards sets people up to ignore it.

 

[Alan]

I have a theory that it was not really a mistake, but a drill.

Incompetence is a more likely answer imo

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...reat-alert-false-alarm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Hawaii governor David Ige told CNN the false alarm was caused by human error. “It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift, and an employee pushed the wrong button,” he said.

Maybe they will now follow standard practices and have such emergency buttons with a cover so that it takes 2 deliberate actions to push it.

 

[Meadbh]

Incompetence is a more likely answer imo

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...reat-alert-false-alarm?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Maybe they will now follow standard practices and have such emergency buttons with a cover so that it takes 2 deliberate actions to push it.

Don’t you think it’s weird that this has never happened before Kim Jong Un started making threats?

 

[Souschef]

DW and I are heading to the Big Island in 17 days. We are going to spend the month of February there. I was in Kauai for a short week 30+ years ago, and DW has never been to any of the Hawaiian Islands before. Her daughter is jealous that we are going, and was the one to tell us about the alarm. She suggested we cancel our trip. I hope she was joking.
I hope you will share with the FIRE community on a thread, how your time on Hawaii went, what you learned, etc etc.

Attached are a couple of stories about what we did on Kauai, Oahu and Maui. We will be cruising to the islands later this year.
We are happy to answer any questions

 

[kcowan]

Well the State Department should send out a travel advisory to immediately discontinue all travel to the US.
(From Keith in Mexico!)

 

[Alan]

Don’t you think it’s weird that this has never happened before Kim Jong Un started making threats?

I’m much more inclined to believe that the threats make the operators nervous and more likely to make mistakes. It may have been a drill that went wrong in that the final action to broadcast the message and cause panic should not have happened.

 

[GrayHare]

Com networks being overloaded is not good but also not surprising. Cell, wired telephone, internet - were they all equally as jammed?

 

[flyingaway]

Looks like a good time to look for retirement house in Hawaii.

 

[W2R]

Com networks being overloaded is not good but also not surprising. Cell, wired telephone, internet - were they all equally as jammed?

It would be neat if they weren't! I remember after 9/11 trying to get in touch with Frank, who was just outside NYC in CT. Cell phone communiciations were terrible, probably due to the huge number of calls, but e-mails went through. Same here after Katrina - - cell phones and landlines were disrupted off and on, but e-mail was better.

 

[flyingaway]

I’m much more inclined to believe that the threats make the operators nervous and more likely to make mistakes. It may have been a drill that went wrong in that the final action to broadcast the message and cause panic should not have happened.

US didn't launch a counter attack immediately. That was a relief.