Remembering Hawaii's False Missile Alert

Photo byCherisse WongonUnsplash

Hawaii had a false missile alert on January 13, 2018. I remember where I was on that morning. I had received a call from my mom to seek shelter. I was waiting in the parking lot at my second job to start tutoring at 9:00 am. My mom called and told me to seek shelter immediately. The owner of the tutoring company didn't mention anything, so I drove to my part-time job that day like I did every Saturday morning. I didn't know there was an alert because I got to my part-time job early and slept in my car until I started my shift.

I didn't feel the initial panic because I was sleeping in my car in the parking lot, waiting for my shift to start. My reaction was a little more relaxed because I didn't hear the sirens or see the panic in the parking lot. After all, the parking lot was empty.

I remember the Governor's reason why they couldn't get the false missile alert notice to the public sooner. The Governor forgot the password to his Twitter account.

Final Thoughts

As I watched the news that night and several weeks after, I saw many people in panic in Hawaii. How do you prepare for a possible incoming nuclear missile? I'm not sure if you can prepare for it. The best option is to try to stay out of wars.

What people took away from the false alert was the delay in letting the people know that it was a false alarm. Aside from that, I'm not sure you can prepare for an incoming nuclear missile.