Ballistic Missile Warning - What would you do?

JustMe

JustMe

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Greetings all.

I wake up this morning and a few minutes later all the cell phones in my household go off with the following EXTREME ALERT:

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL

20 minutes later it turns into a false alarm.

What would you do if you received this on your phone?
 

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I put this on a different forum...

OK, now that we all know this was a false alarm, its time for a little reflection.

When all 4 cell phones went off just after 8 am this morning with an EXTREME ALERT which said:

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL

I read that message in disbelief and said "Oh crap!" to the Mrs. The thoughts that went through my mind those first few seconds about my life and my future. What should I do? Is there enough time?

In a previous thread I stated that Oahu is small and congested and there is not enough time to get to a shelter in time while a million other people try to do the same. I said that I would probably just reflect on my life and shelter in-place. If it is God's will that I survive or die then that's that. I can say now that for that brief moment after receiving the Alert, thinking that maybe this is really it, I was OK with this decision.

This event is a real eye opener for a lot of people here. All telephone lines were jammed. Cell phones were useless as everyone tried calling. I did tell my wife that the Civil Defense sirens were not blaring and I would expect that we should be hearing the wailing sounds of those horns. But then again, it wouldn't surprise me that the siren malfunctioned at such a critical time...

I needed confirmation. Turned on the radio - all normal (taped, canned, programmed radio) programing. No info forthcoming. Tried calling 911 - All circuits are busy. Tried calling the radio stations - same, all circuits are busy. Turned on the TV - a channel had normal programing, one had the emergency alert information. Which is it? Ok or not? Go to the .gov web sites - nothing. News sites - nothing.

Finally after 15/20 minutes we get confirmation of the false alarm. If this had been a real event, the missile would have probably already landed. There is going to be A LOT of reflection and blame going around after this...

Just wanted to share my feelings about what happened this morning. Thanks for reading...
 
Disclaimer, This is not a joking matter but I would think I would be changing my underwear.

Now assuming the error was fixed and should not happen again, what happens when god forbid it happens for real?
 
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I would have simply held my family and waited for the boom, and been a bit sad it didn't come. For our neighbors in Hawaii... I don't think there is a minimum safe distance. Not unless you've got a submarine off the coast you can hide in.
 
The cell phone alerts are part of that system. We get those all the time for those damn amber alerts. Fortunately, you can turn off the amber alerts. We had a bad series of brush fires a few years ago and they went off for those.
 
nlinecomputers said:
The cell phone alerts are part of that system. We get those all the time for those damn amber alerts. Fortunately, you can turn off the amber alerts. We had a bad series of brush fires a few years ago and they went off for those.
Click to expand...

Yes. But the OP's picture had nothing indicating where it came from. News reports confirmed it was official but if it pops up on a phone there should be some kind of indicator of who the author is. I get news popups on my iPhone and they all have the source indicated.
 
What I would have done...
1. Chuckle
2. Check that the AV on my phone is functioning correctly
3. Try to ascertain what crap program sneaked onto my phone...
4. Call my carrier and complain...again...

On a serious note. This could be part of a much larger scheme.
By sending these fake alerts people will start to ignore them.
When and if the brown smelly stuff actually hits the air recirculation device no one will take it seriously.
Like a boy who cried wolf thing.
 
Honestly, given the way our cities are built an early warning system for an incoming ICBM is pointless. All it will ensure is exactly what just happened, basically a riot before it all vanishes under a mushroom cloud. There are no shelters... there is no minimum safe distance... and if you do manage to live through it you've got cancer... screw that. Just shut the thing down.

P.S. NK is still just as useless today as it was yesterday, all this fear over an idiot that starves his own people? WTF? If he does nuke us it'll be with a missile built WITH OUR MONEY because we keep paying him to shut up. I know we have a numpty in the White House, but being scared of NK is irrational at best.
 
Barcelona said:
What I would have done...

On a serious note. This could be part of a much larger scheme.
By sending these fake alerts people will start to ignore them.
When and if the brown smelly stuff actually hits the air recirculation device no one will take it seriously.
Like a boy who cried wolf thing.
Click to expand...

Although I tend to agree, by this happening to you guys over there, this has also tested many drills today. There is no better way then doing a drill when no one except a handful of people know it is a drill. It test's every part of the emergency procedure. Although at the same time scaring everyone which is the downside.

What would I do? If I can not get to a shelter, then find a place in the house like a bathroom that the family can shelter in there. Grab Mattresses and place them on top of us and remain hidden. Ensure I also have my evacuation kit ready to go, some food, plenty of water, torch etc. Just like a Cyclone Evacuation Kit.

I truly hope this day never comes.
 
Markverhyden said:
Yes. But the OP's picture had nothing indicating where it came from. News reports confirmed it was official but if it pops up on a phone there should be some kind of indicator of who the author is. I get news popups on my iPhone and they all have the source indicated.
Click to expand...

The alert has a very long irritating buzz/beep preceding the message. It is an official message, I've received dozens of them over the years, usually weather related indicating flash flooding, tsunami alerts, that sort of thing. I also said it appeared on all the cell phones in the home (all 4 of them).
 
I wouldn't have done anything, i mean its a nuke so you hope its not going to hit even remotely close to you or you hope it hits close to you because slow radioactive death does not sound appealing at all.

Edit: I mean assuming im indoors which I almost always am, if I was outside i'd take shelter at the nearest krispy kreme....because if i'm going to die let my last few moments be sweet ;)
 
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