Hawaiians woke Saturday to news that the islands were the target of a ballistic missile strike. However, thankfully, no bombs fell. Instead, authorities revealed that the emergency message sent was a mistake.
That’s quite a mistake, really.
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Nevertheless, for around 38 minutes, Hawaiians had no idea that it was a false alarm and reacted how any normal human being would: in panic.
An AskReddit thread posted Sunday morning details what some on the internet did after hearing the news. The thread has some 38 000 points, and over 10 000 comments at the time of writing. This after being live for a little under 10 hours.
“Hawaii resident here. While I didn’t make the impulse decision, the people around me did,” read the top comment.
“I was sleeping when the announcement came out, and the others in my house didn’t decide to wake me up. They said if I was gonna die, might as well let me die in my sleep.”
Others decided to take matters into their own hands… by clearing out the fridge.
“I ate all the leftover lasagna in my fridge. I figured that if shits about to hit the fan, I better carb tf up.”
“My 70 year old dad ate two loaves of bread while hiding in his closet. He said he only regrets it because he has to buy more bread now,” wrote another.
‘I made an impulse decision to stay in bed with my wife. Nowhere to go for safety, no time to get there anyway’
In a move only Capetonians could appreciate, one Redditor filled up emergency water rations — but perhaps a little bit too much — as a precaution.
“All I regret is filling my emergency water containers right behind the car. So now I’m blocked in the garage by 150 gallons of water,” read the 14 000 point comment.
Others were simply resigned to death (that is, believing that they were going to die).
“I made an impulse decision to stay in bed with my wife. Nowhere to go for safety, no time to get there anyway. Might as well be comfortable in my bed with someone i love,” read one comment.
“I just laid in bed and told my gf I loved her because there wasn’t much else to do. I called my parents and left them a voicemail and told them I loved them too,” another echoed.
“I felt like this alert showed me that I can keep calm and that I’m a bit apathetic towards death.. and I’m pretty proud of myself,” read another.
And finally, one particular commenter will probably never leave the charger at home ever again.
“Cleared out the fridge and hid in it for 6 hours. Got the alert with 2% battery, so had no idea it was fake.”
Find the full AskReddit thread here.
Feature image: US Missile Defense Agency via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY)
