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One Year After False Missile Alert, What Has Changed?

Daniel Ramirez
/
Flickr / CC by 2.0

January 13th, 2018 was the day of the false  missle alert. Residents and visitors in Hawaii didn't know what to think at first. Many thought it couldn't be real, but then a second later… 'what if it is?' Some searched for verification, while others waited for a second alert to say this was a false alarm. It was just a drill, but that  notification didn't come until  38 minutes later.  That incident exposed a serious flaw in our emergency system.

So what are the lessons learned? Today we have emergency management officials from the State, County and Federal levels in studio with us, to talk not just about getting caught flatfooted but to examine our reponse to the following natural disasters that followed and consumed us in 2018.

Our guests today are:

  • Tom Travis, head of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency
  • Hirokazu  “Hiro” Toiya, Acting Director of the City’s Department of Emergency Management 
  • Dolph Diemont, Federal Coordinating Officer for the Federal Emergency Managment Agency 

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Catherine Cruz is the host of The Conversation. Originally from Guam, she spent more than 30 years at KITV, covering beats from government to education. Contact her at ccruz@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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