Editor:
On a sunny Saturday morning in Hawaii, as we were starting our day with the serious debate of whether to head to the beach, go for a run or a hike, our cell phones went off with a ring tone we had not heard before. This is the message we saw at 8:07: “Emergency Alert. Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”
Yes, we had a moment of shock and panic, but we mostly had a sense of calmness, as there was really nothing we could do given that we were staying in a cottage that didn’t even have a basement.
So … we checked all our social media feeds and the local television outlets but found no corroboration of the initial alerts. We also realized that although we were situated next to a U.S. Air Force base, we had heard no sirens. Taking all that into account, we made our biggest decision of the day and decided to have our coffee before our chosen beach walk rather than after it. Fifteen minutes into our morning stroll, we received the retraction alert and carried on with our walk. We did encounter others who also let us know the original message was an error but we also all knew we had just shared a very unique experience.
As we reflected on this later in the day, and after watching video of people placing their children in underground storm drains, and hearing reports of much greater panic, we recognized the experience might have been different had we remained in Waikiki. The town of Waimanalo had none of the panic we later saw on the news.
While some may question (and we did as well!) if we under-reacted to what might have been an actual disaster, we’re clear that we would not have changed our response. You must continue to live your life until you no longer have one.
Ingrid and Tom Hierck
