Something extraordinarily frightening and stupid happened this morning in Hawaii. Shortly after 8am Hawaii time, the state Emergency Management Agency (EMA) sent out an alert to everyone’s phones saying a nuclear missile was inbound to Hawaii. For 38 minutes, that alert hung in the air like guillotine blade–the rope had been cut, and we were all just waiting for the blade to strike. News organizations and officials like Rep. Tulsi Gabbard started posting updates that it was all a mistake five to 10 minutes after the initial alert, but even by that point huge numbers of people–residents and tourists–were terrified (state officials have not yet explained why the false alert was sent).
The alert is designed to give Hawaii residents 15 minutes warning to take shelter–a largely useless gesture, since there are few, if any, proper nuclear bomb shelters in the state. About the best any of us can really hope for is to huddle inside away from glass and hope for the best.
For the last hour I’ve been collecting brief statements from people on Maui about what they did during that time–during those precious few minutes when it seemed possible that nuclear war was imminent. I found some on Twitter and Facebook, and asked others I know for their thoughts. Some reacted calmly, noting that none of the emergency sirens were going off. Others, well, they did what they could.
Here are statements from 30 people on Maui (I’ve removed all names and identifying details because, honestly, these people could easily be us):
“I searched social media and reached out to people. We panicked for about 30 seconds, but I felt that something wasn’t right. No sirens and lots of confusion.”
“I was washing my face and was like why bother?!?! I ran around in circles trying to think of what to grab. And [my son] is at a regatta and called me freaking out. I was in tears thinking he wasn’t with us.”
“I made the bed for some inexplicable reason, trying to act normal. Such a helpless feeling!”
“Jumped up, closed all doors and windows, tuned in to TV and checked social media, took inventory on liquor cabinet!”
“[I] prayed, and waited for updates.”
“Woke my boyfriend up and then stated checking local TV channels and then FB… only to find nothing, except other who received warning… then called my mom.”
“I called [my daughter] in the first 30 seconds. Then [my friend]. [My boyfriend] gave me a hug, then made coffee. [My cat] licked her butt and went back to sleep.”
“I sheltered in bed.”
“Packed the truck to prepare for homesteading in a remote place on Maui.”
“We broke into a school.”
“I stumbled out of bed and made coffee, because I needed to [be] alert. Put the cats inside and realized there was nothing we could do.”
“Was sleeping got the notice 10 minutes left thought about it for a minute decided best thing to do was to roll over hug my sleeping wife go back to sleep. Figured worst case scenario we would die in our sleep peacefully.”
“Thought about World Trade Center, fed [my dog], made coffee, thought about hiking down to Jaws and/or taking a Xanax and going back to bed.”
“Walked next door to the Hui No‘eau and looked west: Mushroom cloud watch. Figured it would be Honolulu not Maui that would get hit.”
“Started checking cable news and saw nothing. That was our first indicator that something was not right. Then noticed NO air raid sirens. Things, for us, began to calm at that point.”
“I cried. [My daughter’s] dad is there and all my friends. It felt horrible being so far away and not being able to do anything.”
“I went to have coffee like I always do. Many here knew it was a false alarm right away, no sirens.”
“Filled one bottle of water while trying unsuccessfully to call my family. Sent them a text and sat on the floor crying.”
“Realized I had no idea where [the] shelter is. Tweeted goodbye to friends and family on the Mainland. The news had NOTHING while it was going on. Was going to get in bed with my boyfriend to wait for the end, like in Rogue One.”
“Woke up my husband, got the dog out of her crate, got a radio, and went to the garage. Sat there twiddling the radio dial and checking the internet trying to get some reliable info.”
“Tried many things to confirm status. Absence of immediate of confirmation (TV, sirens, online, 911, etc) eased the initial panic… Can’t believe it took 40 minutes to send out update notification to phone and TV!”
“Turned on the television, got the key to the safe, tried to sit and watch TV but couldn’t stay still, heart was thumping and I think I was actually in shock.”
“We tried to evacuate to the office but learned of false alarms before we left our house.”
“Drank my coffee and tried to figure out WTF was going on.”
“Got lit. Had a sandwich. Called my Mom.”
“After initial paralysis made family calls.”
“Closed all doors and windows. Got cat & son and sat in bathroom checking FB news and 7 minutes later saw [Representative] Tulsi Gabbard’s post [saying it was all a mistake].”
“Consoled my daughter who was crying uncontrollably.”
“I checked the news to see if it was legit, and then made coffee and waited.”
“Nothing. Drank my coffee. What could we do?”
Photo: Gaspard/Flickr
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