Why Hawaiians spent Saturday morning waiting to die in a nuclear fireball

Human error and a clunky user interface caused the false missile alert that left more than a million Hawaiians preparing for a fiery death Saturday.

Islanders received an 8 a.m. mobile alert, warning:

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

A longer message was shared on TV and radio:

“If you are indoors, stay indoors. If you are outdoors, seek immediate shelter in a building. Remain indoors well away from windows. If you are driving, pull safely to the side of the road and seek shelter in a building or lay on the floor.”

People scrambled for shelter and bid farewell to loved ones before authorities sent another message some 30 minutes later admitting the false alarm.

• The Hawaiian Emergency Management Agency regularly tests its systems for warning citizens about a possible missile strike. One such test was scheduled for Saturday morning.
• At 8.05 a.m. an unnamed HEMA employee logged on to test the system internally. From a drop-down menu in the software the employee was offered two options: “Test missile alert” and “Missile alert.”
• “In this case, the operator selected the wrong menu option,” HEMA spokesman Richard Rapoza told the Washington Post.
• There was, however, another step the employee had to take before the alert was sent, clicking through a pop-up confirmation prompt to send the warning. At 8.07 a.m. the errant message was dispatched.
• “This sounds like terrible user interface design to me,” computer security expert Graham Cluley wrote. “Why have the genuine "Jeez Louise! Freak out everybody!" option slap-bang next to one the harmless "Test the brown alert" option?”
• The alert set off a wave of panic across the islands. The dread was exacerbated by the fact it took 38 minutes for authorities to issue a follow-up message.
• While HEMA has permission to send alerts, it does not have permission to send out a correction. As such, it wasn’t until 8.45 a.m. that the Federal Emergency Management Agency authorized the update.

• Though the guilty employee will not be fired but reassigned, HEMA said Sunday.
• Though the alert caused widespread alarm, some islanders did manage to keep their cool: