Hawaii's ballistic missile message was due to 'human error'

Around 1.42 million people reside in Hawaii, which is also a popular tourist destination. Pic/Thinkstock

A ballistic missile warning system alert in Hawaii went off erroneously yesterday creating panic among the islanders, even as the officials dubbed it a "false alarm". At around 8:07 am local Hawaii time, an emergency alert was sent to all cell phones in caps. "Ballistic missile threat inbounds to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."
About 10 minutes later, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted that there was no such threat. "No missile threat to Hawaii," it said. The second emergency alert went out at 8:45 am. "There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii. Repeat. False Alarm," it said.

US Pacific Command in a separate statement said it detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii. "Earlier message was sent in error", it said. White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said President Donald Trump has been briefed on the state of Hawaii's emergency management exercise. "It was purely a state exercise," she said.

The first message alert

Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said the people of Hawaii "just got a sense of the stark reality of what a nuclear strike on Hawaii would be". Cell phones all across Hawaii got a message saying a ballistic missile is incoming, take shelter, she added. "Over a million of Hawaii's people were faced with the immediate reality of having 15 minutes to find a place to "take shelter," wondering where do I go? ...But there's nowhere to go, nowhere to hide," she said in a series of lengthy tweets.

10
Minutes after which the first threat was declared an 'error'

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