Honolulu – Hawaii is the only state set up to send cellphone alerts about the threat of an incoming ballistic missile.
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Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Richard Rapoza says the state has had the capability to send the alerts since November.
On Saturday, the agency mistakenly sent an alert to cellphones with a warning to seek immediate shelter because a ballistic missile was “inbound to Hawaii.”
The agency followed up with a cellphone alert 38 minutes later saying the initial alert was a false alarm.
The agency posted a note on Twitter about the false alarm about 10 minutes after the initial alert.
But it took officials longer to work up and push out the false alarm alert to cellphones.
It’s a good thing, or else it would have been a nationwide panic.