# Prank?  Missile alert in Hawaii (Sat am)



## Bill4728 (Jan 13, 2018)

We're currently in Hawaii and just received a missile alert " take cover, inbound missle, not a drill" on all our cell phones.

Then about 3 minutes later received a notice over the fire/emergency alarm system  that it was just a drill.

Scary as hell for those 3 minutes.

Edited to add  
Here is the exact message  "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL"


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## PamMo (Jan 13, 2018)

Oh, my! That would be terrifying! Not funny at all if it was a prank.


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## Bill4728 (Jan 13, 2018)

There is now a twitter post which said the Hawaii state emergency system sent out the CELL PHONE alert this morning by mistake.

Some mistake??!!


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## b2bailey (Jan 13, 2018)

My daughter and family are in Maui. She called me immediately and said what should we do? They were driving to airport. I looked at internet, saw it was a false alarm, and was able to relay the info to her. What a way to start the day -- and end a first trip to Maui.


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## dougp26364 (Jan 13, 2018)

I’d love that! A message from a government agency YOU’RE GOING TO DIE............. just kidding


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## PamMo (Jan 13, 2018)

Yes, I just heard the same thing on the news. How do you make a mistake like that, and take three minutes to correct it?

I bet it seemed A LOT longer than three minutes!


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## DeniseM (Jan 13, 2018)

This announcement was sent through official government communications, so it seems very unlikely that it was a prank - the official govenment response is that it was an error.


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## pedro47 (Jan 13, 2018)

How many folks took this missle alert serious? Alert or false alert, we as Americans are not ready for this and that is my personal opinion only.  My thoughts went back to 09/11 sitting and having breakfast @ LAFB watching television.  I thought it was first a movie and then the alarm went off and the base was shut down.  Jet fighter planes took to the air. We were at war. Minutes passed as I watch that television screen. I was scare.

These were my experiences and my personal opinion. I am praying all is well and have return to normal on the Island.


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## Panina (Jan 13, 2018)

This is a big mistake. They should explain how it happened. 

Could it be did something made them think we might be in danger and that is why it was sent.  We will never know for sure.

Seek immediate shelter? where from a ballistic missile?


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## DeniseM (Jan 13, 2018)

CNN says emergency management was doing a drill, and someone accidentally sent out a live message.


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## dioxide45 (Jan 13, 2018)

Panina said:


> Seek immediate shelter? where from a ballistic missile?


My thoughts exactly. When we were in Hawaii, we talked about this. If you only had three minutes to do anything, well that isn't even enough time to get downstairs from your villa. If it doesn't immediately kill you, then the fallout probably will. Even if it were to hit one of the other islands than the one you are on, the ensuing panic and loss of infrastructure and organization would make it like hell on earth. ThinK of St Maarten after the hurricanes, only worse. We, nor anyone else is not really prepared for anything like this. No matter how much we want to think we are, we aren't.


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## Panina (Jan 13, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> My thoughts exactly. When we were in Hawaii, we talked about this. If you only had three minutes to do anything, well that isn't even enough time to get downstairs from your villa. If it doesn't immediately kill you, then the fallout probably will. Even if it were to hit one of the other islands than the one you are on, the ensuing panic and loss of infrastructure and organization would make it like hell on earth. ThinK of St Maarten after the hurricanes, only worse. We, nor anyone else is not really prepared for anything like this. No matter how much we want to think we are, we aren't.


Agree, we are not prepared.  With all the craziness in the world more needs to be done but not sure what can be done to prepare us for this, scary.


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## DeniseM (Jan 13, 2018)

Governor David Ige said that a shift change was occuring at the Hawaii Emergency Management System, and at every shift change they do a test to make sure the emergency warning system is functioning, but they accidentally sent out a live message, instead of the test.  The test is done 3 times a day - at every shift change, so it's a normal procedure that someone messed up.

The person in-charge of the system said that 3 people were there, and there was a check-list that was supposed to have been followed, and it apparently it wasn't, and then, the correction was not immediately implemented, as it should have been.


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## davidvel (Jan 13, 2018)

DeniseM said:


> Governor David Ige said that a shift change was occuring at the Hawaii Emergency Management System, and at every shift change they do a test to make sure the emergency warning system is functioning, but they accidentally sent out a live message, instead of the test.  The test is done 3 times a day - at every shift change, so it's a normal procedure that someone messed up.
> 
> The person in-charge of the system said that 3 people were there, and there was a check-list that was supposed to have been followed, and it apparently it wasn't, and then, the correction was not immediately implemented, as it should have been.


I've been involved in hundreds of Emergency Operations Center (EOC) drills/tests, and I've never seen "This is NOT a drill," appended to a message. To the contrary, messages are stated "This IS A DRILL."

Disgruntled worker on the way out?


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## jestme (Jan 13, 2018)

Im here. It was about 38 minutes of no fun. Apparently, the sirens went off in the valley, but not Waikiki. All our phones went off with the message. It will be a topic of discussion at the bar today I'm sure.


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## dioxide45 (Jan 13, 2018)

I guess this raises the question, if the world was about to end would you really want that three minutes notice?


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## CO skier (Jan 13, 2018)

davidvel said:


> I've been involved in hundreds of Emergency Operations Center (EOC) drills/tests, and I've never seen "This is NOT a drill," appended to a message. To the contrary, messages are stated "This IS A DRILL."
> 
> Disgruntled worker on the way out?


A cynic might think it was something aimed at changing the weekend news cycle.  It certainly has done that.  Imagine all the "man-on-the-ground" reactions that will be reported today and tomorrow.  Reporter - "What did you do when you got the message that a ballistic missile was inbound" and then it is open mic time.  Ratings skyrocket.


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## MOXJO7282 (Jan 13, 2018)

I'm so sorry for all those terrified over this human error. It's so troubling we live in a world that we even have to worry about something like this.


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## Chrispee (Jan 13, 2018)

My inlaws are in Waikiki right now but thankfully slept through this whole ordeal.  It’s hard to believe that those responsible at EOC could be so incompetent. Maybe a case of the tail wagging the dog?


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## Panina (Jan 13, 2018)

Oh No, this is starting to go political. Please keep our safe haven Tug free from politics.


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## Kapolei (Jan 13, 2018)

I got the second alert canceling the first.  Then I looked at the first alert that was still on my phone and thought that is ridiculous.  I thought If it was a real alert, the internet is going to go crazy.

I can say there is a large part of the population that never saw anything.  We have sirens across the island that were not triggered.  For most, there was zero effect on their day.  

The real problem was the delay in getting the second alert out


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## SeaDoc (Jan 13, 2018)

Bill4728 said:


> We're currently in Hawaii and just received a missile alert " take cover, inbound missle, not a drill" on all our cell phones.
> 
> Then about 3 minutes later received a notice over the fire/emergency alarm system  that it was just a drill.
> 
> ...


For everyone else, it was 38 minutes before the notification was rescinded.  How you knew 3 minutes after 8:08am is beyond me.  We are in Maui and people were terrified for 38 minutes...

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## taffy19 (Jan 13, 2018)

I wonder how many people had a heart attack because of this horrible mistake?  Where are the shelters anyway, if there are any?


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## SeaDoc (Jan 13, 2018)

taffy19 said:


> I wonder how many people had a heart attack because of this horrible mistake?  Where are the shelters anyway, if there are any?


None on Maui.  Horrific experience... Nothing humorous about it... 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## taffy19 (Jan 13, 2018)

SeaDoc said:


> None on Maui.  Horrific experience... Nothing humorous about it...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


I agree and I wasn't trying to be funny.  It shows how "Bureaucrats" work and plan.


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## SeaDoc (Jan 13, 2018)

taffy19 said:


> I agree and I wasn't trying to be funny.  It shows how "Bureaucrats" work and plan.


People forget the history of Pearl Harbor and the Japanese attack.  For many, this was a horrific reminder that history repeats...

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## dioxide45 (Jan 13, 2018)

taffy19 said:


> I wonder how many people had a heart attack because of this horrible mistake?  Where are the shelters anyway, if there are any?


There are no shelters, this is why we are so woefully prepared. Though even if there were shelters, it isn't like there would be enough time to get out of your resort or home, let alone to a shelter.


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## slip (Jan 13, 2018)

SeaDoc said:


> For everyone else, it was 38 minutes before the notification was rescinded.  How you knew 3 minutes after 8:08am is beyond me.  We are in Maui and people were terrified for 38 minutes...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk



It was being reported that is was a mistake before the notification was rescinded. I received a notice on my phone from Hawaii News Now at 8:19am. 

Not trying to split hairs during the stressful time but reports were coming out before the rescind message was sent out.


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## Kapolei (Jan 13, 2018)

taffy19 said:


> I wonder how many people had a heart attack because of this horrible mistake?  Where are the shelters anyway, if there are any?



Shelters are not really much of an option.  As my middle school kid said after OMG —- what are we going to anyways?

The Hawaiian islands are separated by many miles and the terrain is mountainous.  So it would really depend on where the bomb lands.  If it is on the other side of the island and there is a mountain in between, then sheltering inside your house may make a difference.  At ground zero, it is not going to matter.


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## SeaDoc (Jan 13, 2018)

slip said:


> It was being reported that is was a mistake before the notification was rescinded. I received a notice on my phone from Hawaii News Now at 8:19am.
> 
> Not trying to split hairs during the stressful time but reports were coming out before the rescind message was sent out.


Many relied only on the one official source.  You, were fortunate.  The vast majority were not...

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## CO skier (Jan 13, 2018)

SeaDoc said:


> People forget the history of Pearl Harbor and the Japanese attack.  For many, this was a horrific reminder that history repeats...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


This is not a repeat of Pearl Harbor; it is the exact opposite.  With Pearl Harbor there was no was no widespread warning and the attack was real.  The only commonality is that both occurred in Hawaii.

If this is a reminder of anything historic, it would be the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds.


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## slip (Jan 13, 2018)

SeaDoc said:


> Many relied only on the one official source.  You, were fortunate.  The vast majority were not...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk



I understand, I only posted that because you said you didn't know how the other person would have known so quickly.


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## SeaDoc (Jan 13, 2018)

CO skier said:


> This is not a repeat of Pearl Harbor; it is the exact opposite.  With Pearl Harbor there was no was no widespread warning and the attack was real.  The only commonality is that both occurred in Hawaii.
> 
> If this is a reminder of anything historic, it would be the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds.


If you were an officer in the US navy, stationed in pearl harbor, they were warned.  My Dad was...

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## dsmrp (Jan 13, 2018)

jestme said:


> Im here. It was about 38 minutes of no fun. Apparently, the sirens went off in the valley, but not Waikiki. All our phones went off with the message. It will be a topic of discussion at the bar today I'm sure.



Wow sirens too??
When I was a kid growing up in Honolulu, wa-a-ay before cell phones,   I remember there'd be a monthly test of the Emergency Broadcast system.  I think it was on the first of the month, and be on the TV and radio stations...something about short bursts and long bursts warning sounds. Honestly I got conditioned to think of the date first,  'oh must be the first of the month test'.  The only threat I could remember was the cold war with the Soviet Union.  And there is no place anyone can go. Actually I don't know anywhere I could go where I live now on the West coast.

Sorry for everyone who saw or heard this mistake alarm. I'm sure a certain small asian country likely came to mind which made the mistake seem all the more real.... Hope you all can go back to relaxing and enjoying your vacation.


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## davidvel (Jan 13, 2018)

SeaDoc said:


> If you were an officer in the US navy, stationed in pearl harbor, they were warned.  My Dad was...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


Maybe by a few minutes, if at all. Most had no warning. But as that poster noted, that was a real attack, not a text alert sent out by accident. Really no parallel.


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## SeaDoc (Jan 13, 2018)

davidvel said:


> Maybe by a few minutes, if at all. Most had no warning. But as that poster noted, that was a real attack, not a text alert sent out by accident. Really no parallel.


Initial perceptions could be considered very similar.  

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## Passepartout (Jan 14, 2018)

[Deleted by Moderator - Posts of a political nature are not permitted in TUG]


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## clifffaith (Jan 14, 2018)

SeaDoc said:


> If you were an officer in the US navy, stationed in pearl harbor, they were warned.  My Dad was...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk



In 1973 when I was in Catholic high school studying WWII the history teacher, Sister Marie Gertrude had Sister Adele Marie come into class one day. The two nuns described being on Oahu during the bombing of Oearl Harbor. I am not sure where they were headed, but they told of their driver repeatedly having to pull over so they could get into a ditch along side the road as the planes came over. Several weeks later they had a serviceman visit children at the school and/or orphanage associated with the convent. They were laying old newspapers on the floor because it was wet from having been mopped. Service man says "I'll give you $5 for that newspaper". Nuns wanted to know why, then declined his offer. Then began the show and tell portion of that day in class as they held up a 30+ year old full page newspaper ad for fabrics with names like Arizona, Oklahoma, California etc. This was supposedly a coded message to tell the Japanese which ships were in the harbor. As I recall there was something else in the message with numbers, like yards available describing the number of troops. We've been through several WWII museums and I've never come across another copy of this newspaper.


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## sheweeble (Jan 15, 2018)

PamMo said:


> Yes, I just heard the same thing on the news. How do you make a mistake like that, and take three minutes to correct it?
> 
> I bet it seemed A LOT longer than three minutes!


3 minutes would have been okay, we didn't receive a text until 38 minutes later, by then we had done some searching and found that it was probably a mistake


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## Caligirlfrtx (Jan 15, 2018)

We have HI coming up next year (if the island is still there) this scenario has gone on in my mind several times and I am trying very hard to not let it cancel our trip however I cannot imagine to horror everyone must have felt for what is being called a MISTAKE! This is absolutely unacceptable. Very upsetting.


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## tompalm (Jan 16, 2018)

I sent the info below via email this morning to a friend of mine that asked about it. If you are in Waikiki, the latest info shows that most of Waikiki should survive. Maybe the windows in Waikiki will get blown out in a nuclear blast that happens near the airport, but the rest of Hawaii should be fine. There is a 10 mile radius that will get destroyed from ground zero and yesterday the newspaper reported about 18,000 deaths might occur in that area. But who really knows. The point is, if you are far away from that area, stay there and wait to see what happens. If in Waikiki, stay in a low area of a hotel where there are no windows.  That is all we can do. Below is what I experienced.
——————-


For a lot of people it was a terrible experience and they were very scared if they live near ground zero or the airport area. When you get 10 miles aways, you should not be worried about being blown up.  There is lots to worry about after a nuclear war, but we should not even see or feel any part of the blast in Hawaii Kai.  But most people don’t trust that info and worry anyway. Our neighbors stood in a closet for 30 minutes waiting for their windows to get blown out and were very scared.

We did not have emergency warnings turned on for our phones and didn’t even know there was a warning. I turned the warnings off about six months ago because the phones just kept going off when there was a thunderstorm in Maui or other places around Hawaii that didn’t affect us. Right now I am glad they were off, but I did turn the warning back on after this false alarm event. Anyway, for us, it was a non event except to once again see how disfuntional state workers are in Hawaii.


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## Bill4728 (Jan 30, 2018)

Here is more of the story from today Jan 30


			
				Chicago Tribune said:
			
		

> Hawaii's emergency management leader has resigned and a state employee who sent an alert falsely warning of an incoming ballistic missile has been fired, officials said Tuesday, weeks after the mistake caused widespread panic.
> 
> Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi stepped down Tuesday, state Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Joe Logan said. A second agency worker quit before disciplinary action was taken and another was being suspended without pay, Logan said in announcing results of an internal investigation.
> 
> ...


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## pedro47 (Jan 31, 2018)

SeaDoc said:


> If you were an officer in the US navy, stationed in pearl harbor, they were warned.  My Dad was...
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


You are correct we were warned.


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## PigsDad (Jan 31, 2018)

Bill4728 said:


> The *fallout *came the same day...


Bad pun? 

Kurt


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## clifffaith (Jan 31, 2018)

Hawaii's emergency management leader has resigned and a state employee who sent an alert falsely wrning of an incoming ballistic missile has been fired, officials said Tuesday, weeks after the mistake caused widespread panic.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi stepped down Tuesday, state Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Joe Logan said. A second agency worker quit before disciplinary action was taken and another was being suspended without pay, Logan said in announcing results of an internal investigation.

The fallout came the same day the Federal Communications Commission revealed that the worker who pushed out the alert thought an actual attack was imminent. It was the first indication the Jan. 13 alert was purposely sent, adding another level of confusion to the misstep that left residents and tourists believing their lives were about to end.

The state emergency agency worker believed the attack was real because of a mistake in how the drill was initiated during a shift change, the FCC said in a report. The worker said he didn't hear the word "exercise" repeated six times even though others clearly heard it.

There was no requirement to double-check with a colleague or get a supervisor's approval before sending the blast to cellphones, TV and radio stations statewide, the agency said.

"There were no procedures in place to prevent a single person from mistakenly sending a missile alert" in Hawaii, said James Wiley, a cybersecurity and communications reliability staffer at the FCC.

The worker, who was fired Friday and whose name has not been revealed, has confused real-life events and drills in the past, according to the state's report on its internal investigation. Retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira, who wrote the report, said the employee mistakenly believed drills for tsunami and fire warnings were actual events.

--------
OMG, trying to select a sentence to quote is impossible on the ipad! The fact that the fired employee had  previous issues with distinguishing a real life event from an exercise floors me! He should have been reassigned long ago!


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## pedro47 (Jan 31, 2018)

There were and are so many unanswers questions & problems at this emergency agency; there were a lack of training at all levels, there were no  written guidelines or policy in place, there were no fail safe procedures in place.
Everyone should have been be fired or asked to resign in my opinion.  There were no corrective actions taken by the supervisor; after this same employee in the past has confused real-life events and drills.

According to a Hawaii internal investigation conducted by a Retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira who wrote a written report, that this same state employee had mistakenly believed tsunami drills and fire warnings drills were actual events. A Red Flag should have gone up to this person supervisor and this person should have been removed from this key position ASAP.


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## davidvel (Jan 31, 2018)

Funny how people always first try to cover their a$$e$ through the most expedient, neutral, reasonable sounding cause for its F-ups, especially governments and large companies. Then they try to hold back the real incompetency until it trickles out, or the dam bursts. 

The dam is bursting. Sounds like this person was either mentally unstable, and agency didn't can him despite his failures (typical of government entities), or he was truly disgruntled.


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## PigsDad (Jan 31, 2018)

davidvel said:


> Funny how people always first try to cover their a$$e$ through the most expedient, neutral, reasonable sounding cause for its F-ups, especially governments and large companies. Then they try to hold back the real incompetency until it trickles out, or the dam bursts.
> 
> The dam is bursting. Sounds like this person was either mentally unstable, and agency didn't can him despite his failures (typical of government entities), or he was truly disgruntled.


Yes, typical of government entities.  When they effectively have a job for life (unless they get caught screwing up, like in this case) and will get automatic promotions and pay raises, what incentive do these people have for improving processes or making them more efficient?  These people would never make it in the private sector.

I had to deal with a level of government incompetency that you wouldn't imagine with my Global Entry application over this past year (yes, it took over a year from start to finish!).  The Denver Global Entry office and staff were a complete joke!  First available appointments were over 10 months out after application.  Couldn't make adjacent appointments with my wife and daughter since the designers of the application process didn't even have that as a consideration -- ended up with three different interview times on two separate days (1.25 hour drive each way to the airport, plus parking fees, etc.) 

Then when I finally got the interview, they screwed up and didn't process the results of the interview (system indicated that no interview happened!).  No possible way to contact the Denver office (emails went unanswered, there was a phone number published, but no one ever answered nor did they ever act upon multiple messages left on the voicemail).  Eventually made another appointment in Miami (had to drive 2 hours each way from Marco Island and take a day out of our vacation) but that office was great -- fixed the problem and received my GE card a week later.  The Denver office staff were a bunch of buffoons with an attitude of just doing the bare minimum, 9-5 job.  Our hard-earned taxes at work. 

Kurt


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## LisaRex (Jan 31, 2018)

My friend, who survived very aggressive breast cancer, among other things, was in Maui celebrating her 10th cancerversary with her husband when she received the alert.  Even though she had a fabulous time in Maui for 2 weeks, this happened on the 2nd to last day.  She was severely traumatized by the alerts, and had made phone calls her 3 children to possibly say goodbye to them.  She also ran into a 7-year old child who was  hyperventilating and sobbing because they couldn't reach her Mom on her cell phone.   

It's sad to say but that half hour of fear completely colored her view of Maui, and I doubt she'll ever return.  Prior to that, she was writing FB posts about wanting to buy property on Maui.


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## davidvel (Jan 31, 2018)

LisaRex said:


> My friend, who survived very aggressive breast cancer, among other things, was in Maui celebrating her 10th cancerversary with her husband when she received the alert.  Even though she had a fabulous time in Maui for 2 weeks, this happened on the 2nd to last day.  She was severely traumatized by the alerts, and had made phone calls her 3 children to possibly say goodbye to them.  She also ran into a 7-year old child who was  hyperventilating and sobbing because they couldn't reach her Mom on her cell phone.
> 
> It's sad to say but that half hour of fear completely colored her view of Maui, and I doubt she'll ever return.  Prior to that, she was writing FB posts about wanting to buy property on Maui.


Sad, really sad, for a number of reasons.


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## easyrider (Jan 31, 2018)

Just a heads up, there is a scheduled siren alert tomorrow, Feb 1.

https://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/files/2018/01/20180201-Monthly-Siren-Test-NR.pdf

Here is the tsunami siren and incoming missal sirens.







Bill


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## artringwald (Feb 1, 2018)

It's humid in Poipu, so we have the A/C on. Didn't even hear the sirens.


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## Hawaiibarb (Feb 4, 2018)

It's been interesting, reading all these responses, most of which I agree with.  I live in Honolulu, and it definitely wasn't fun, but I do believe they aren't trying to pass it off as just a mistake.  The silver lining is that it has forced the state to take a very close look at what the emergency procedures need to be if such as attack did occur, and very qualified people have been part of that review. Much focus has been given to the lag time before we were told it was a mistake, and that obviously should not have happened, because it was  identified very quickly that there was no attack.  As reported, the action to be taken is to seek shelter away from windows, stay inside until an all clear is sounded, have 2 weeks supplies of food and water on hand.  As someone said earlier, if one is at ground zero, the mass casualties would be horrific, but 10 miles away, there would be many survivors.  I pray to God that never happens,  but we have certainly been given a wake-up call to be better prepared.


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