McMaster emergency system security similar to Hawaii situation

Tourists in Hawaii from Burlington and Niagara remain in a state of shock after believing that yesterday may have been their last day on earth.

An emergency warning of an imminent missile strike was mistakenly sent to hundreds of thousands of cell phones and satellite radios across the state yesterday morning. Many tourists quickly calling home to say their final goodbyes.

First, a frightening text message reading “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter, this is not a drill” and then a radio warning.

Most people thought they had only 10 minutes to find shelter.

Some residents in Hawaii placed their young children down storm drains.

Others were seen running in the streets, and some hotels sent tourists underground.

What if something like this were to happen here in Hamilton? McMaster University has a similar emergency system that sends out messages in case of an emergency on campus.

Professor Marvin Ryder says there are three of these alarm bells around campus as well, just in case.

Ryder says that the system was tested just last week. Similar to what happened in Hawaii, students would receive email notifications of an active threat, and these alarms would go off, and its not just the University that thinks of these situations.

“Our major employers, Hamilton Health Sciences, Mcmaster, Mohawk College, St. Joseph’s Hospital, the Boards of Education, would coordinate a response, and they would determine that maybe the best thing to do is lock people down in place” Ryder says.

It was an employee with Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency that pushed the wrong button.
It took 38 terrifying minutes for a second alert to be sent out saying that it was a false alarm. The tourists from our area that we spoke to said they genuinely thought their lives were coming to an end.

The Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation and says it appears Hawaii didn’t have safeguards in place that would have prevented the transmission of a false alert about an imminent missile strike calling it “absolutely unacceptable”. Hawaii state lawmakers are planning a hearing later this week.