False missile alert creates confusion for chemists in Hawaii

Abstract

Waking at home early Saturday, Jan. 13 to the sound of his phone’s shrill emergency tone, University of Hawaii, Manoa, chemistry graduate student Parker Crandall read three terse sentences: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” Crandall and his roommates rushed to find more details about the situation using their phones. They didn’t have a television or an internet connection because they were moving soon and had cut off their service early. After several minutes of debating whether the danger of a missile attack was real, the group decided to take action. Crandall knew of a fallout shelter in the basement of the chemistry building Bilger Hall at the UH Manoa campus, located about a three-minute drive from their apartment on the island of Oahu. He had never been inside the shelter but he had heard stories of it and remembered it was