The phone alert, which read, "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill,” was sent to thousands of Hawaiians at 8:07am.
Broadcasters even interrupted television programs to announce that an attack on the state could be imminent and people should take shelter in their basements, reported The Mirror on Thursday (Jan 18). (See story here.)
However as soon as the threat was announced to be a false alarm at 8:45am, it appears many Hawaiians went online to relieve some tension.
Pornhub reported, and provided a graph to show that their views rose by 50% in the minutes after a second message went out stating the threat was a false alarm.
The number of users surged only 15 minutes after the second message was sent out, according to Pornhub’s statisticians.
The website’s traffic also had plunged about 77% from average numbers after the first message.
“Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency's (HI-EMA) launched an investigation into how the alert was sent out,” reported The Mirror.
“A spokesman revealed a staffer had selected the wrong option in a dropdown menu, causing the message and widespread panic.
The state is in the flight path between North Korea and the US and the alert came after months of ballistic missile tests by Kim Jong Un, noted The Mirror.