This is not a drill: My 38 minutes of terror in Hawaii

[brooklynite]

Salon:

My husband and I had just finished eating breakfast, and our 18-month-old daughter Anna was quietly playing with Lego bricks on our living room floor. My phone buzzes first. The ringtone is set on silent, but the long, violent buzzing is familiar: an emergency alert. A couple seconds later, my husband’s does the same.

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

Not what I expected to read at 8:07 a.m. on a Saturday.

"Babe . . .? This is a test, right?"

He grabs his phone and silently reads the same alert. I watch his face change. "I don’t think so."

[snooper2]

2. Pretty sure the OP doesn't live in Hawaii

[Leith]

3. That Must Have Been Horrific

I can see why people would panic. The attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941, started before 8:00 am on a Sunday morning, so why is an easy going Saturday morning so surprising?

I can only imagine how people felt. The closest I ever came to something like that was last fall and the Las Vegas massacre. Even then, I was miles away, safe at home in my jammies, and getting more alarmed by the second (there were news reports of several attacks at nearly all the nearby casinos - all untrue, thankfully).

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Wow...just wow...

Perhaps one good thing to come out of this is that safeguards (have been already from what I hear) will be added and I hope next time if real thing happens (and of course wish will never happen ever) that people will listen still...

Wow...what a weird feeling / sensation to have that I will never wish to experience!