HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaii lawmakers are holding a hearing to learn the circumstances of an emergency alert mistakenly sent over the weekend that warned island residents and visitors of a ballistic missile attack.
Gov. David Ige and Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi will answer questions at Friday’s hearing.
On Saturday, a state employee mistakenly sent an emergency alert to mobile devices and TV and radio stations warning of an incoming missile strike, causing widespread panic and confusion.
FILE – In this Dec. 1, 2017 file photo, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency officials work at the department’s command center in Honolulu. Nearly 40 terrifying minutes passed between the time the Hawaii agency fired off a bogus alert about an incoming missile over the weekend and the moment the notice was canceled. The confusion _ and panic _ has raised questions about whether any state should be responsible for the notification _ especially as Washington and North Korea trade insults and threats. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)
A corrected alert was not sent for nearly 40 minutes because state workers had no prepared message for a false alarm.
Hawaii emergency workers immediately started calling city and county officials to tell them there was no threat. They posted social media messages about 13 minutes after the erroneous warning.
On Thursday, the Hawaii state Department of Defense said it took about 10 minutes for an employee to think of sending a new alert canceling the alert.
Lt. Col. Charles Anthony said that amid the alert’s chaos, a telecommunications staffer presented his idea to create a new alert on the same platform that sent out the mistake. The agency checked with federal officials, composed and uploaded the alert to their online system and eventually issued the retraction.
The initial warning was sent at 8:07 a.m. and the correction reached cellphones at 8:45.
It is estimated that a missile would take about 20 minutes to reach Hawaii from North Korea. Officials say it would take about five minutes for the military to analyze the launch trajectory and notify the state, leaving only 12 to 15 minutes of warning time before impact.
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