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massive panic in Hawaii- false nuclear attack alert :(

(9 Posts)
jura2 Sat 13-Jan-18 21:05:59

After an article in Newsweek explained Hawaii is only 20 minutes away from a possible nuclear strike- people received official warnings, stating it is NOT a practice run- that a nuclear strike was imminent.

It took 38 minutes for the message to go out that it was all a mistake sad sad People panicked and run out and tried to hide in underground car parks, etc. Can you imagine parents, teachers, doctors - grandparents ...

What is even more concerning is that there are many comments like 'ah well- in a way it is a good thing- it has made people think about what they would do, make them talk to their families about where emergency supplies are- where to go, etc, etc. Scary stuff.

MawBroon Sat 13-Jan-18 21:13:04

Well thank God nobody at the White House pressed the red button in retaliation shockshock

NotTooOld Sat 13-Jan-18 22:00:25

Too busy watching gorillas on TV?

OldMeg Sun 14-Jan-18 07:26:38

I remember having similar discussions with friends during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. What’s wrong with consulting reality?

The truth is we have a mentally unstable US President, with an IQ in single figures who thinks he’s god. So we are closer to a nuclear war than ever before and those who voted him on think he’s ‘doing a good job’. Even some misguided and blinkered souls on this forum think the same.

J52 Sun 14-Jan-18 07:31:16

How could the excuse be that one person pressed the wrong button?
Surely it’s not as simple as that and we’re all in the hands of a technocrat who may or may be not concentrating!!

jura2 Sun 14-Jan-18 13:19:45

Indeed- someone I know said 'ah well, anyone can make a mistake' !!! Surely the systems in place should require several steps or check and re-check - before the button is pressed.

And I hope certainly the case with the other button - yiiikes.

lemongrove Sun 14-Jan-18 18:17:09

I would have thought the same jura it seems inexplicable for this to have happened without a few checks!
Poor people there, wonder it didn’t cause a few heart attacks.

jura2 Sun 14-Jan-18 18:53:12

exactly lemongrove- must say got quite upset today as 1 expat from UK and one from USA, who live in the safety of Switzerland (where they have nuclear bunkers for all with iodine tablets, etc) say it was 'just a storm in a teacup and they couldn't understand why people got hysterical ?!? And one of them is a father with young children sad

lemongrove Sun 14-Jan-18 21:07:40

They can’t have much imagination then, can they?
I don’t know if we will get the full story of how the text came to be released, but the people there certainly need to know.