Some prominent New Westminster residents felt a little “surreal” after being alerted to a potential missile strike during an otherwise relaxing vacation in Hawaii.
Former New Westminster MLA and MP Dawn Black and husband Peter and Coun. Bill Harper and wife Delora are vacationing on Maui. On Saturday morning, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sent out a statewide alert, with people receiving messages on their cell phones stating: “Emergency Alert – Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”
Thirty-eight minutes later, a subsequent message was sent out: “Emergency Alert: There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii. Repeat. False Alarm.” (An employee of the agency sent the warning out in error after pressing the wrong button.)
Black missed the initial warning as she was in the shower, but heard the follow-up message loud and clear when the group was in a car en route to a market.
“It was very startling. It was a siren on my phone. That certainly grabbed my attention,” she told the Record. “It was a really, really loud alarm on my phone – that was to say that the ballistic missile attack was in error, there was no missile. It was startling enough to get that.”
While at the beach later in the day, Black bumped into Port Moody-Coquitlam MP Fin Donnelly who is also vacationing on Maui. He was sitting on his deck when a woman came by to warn that a ballistic missile had been launched.
“Some people really did panic. They were horrified,” Black said. “At the market, some of the people packed up. But what are you going to do to protect yourself anyway? I guess you try and get underground. In Honolulu on Oahu some people were putting their children down manhole covers. That is so, so sad.”
In response to concerns about North Korea’s missile and nuclear program, the State of Hawaii recently resumed testing of a nuclear attack warning sirens that inform people to stay indoors.
“One of the things that has struck me is the Americans I have spoken to since Saturday is how really frightened they are by North Korea. That kind of plays into Trump’s hand,” Black said. “It’s scary.”
