In 2018, there have been at least 4 false alarms that have drummed up panic for no reason at all. It makes you wonder, what's with all these false alarms? And how can we actually trust an alert that comes to our phone from the Emergency Alert System at all?

Hawaii

The first, of course, was Hawaii, on January 13th. That one scared me personally since one of my dearest friends lives there and I knew it was a time when she wouldn't be up yet in the morning. I frantically tried to reach her and finally woke her up to tell her the news. A missile was on the way to Hawaii and it was NOT a drill.

The message was sent to cell phones and broadcast on TV and radio stations with the chilling message that residents were to take shelter immediately. Warning sirens went off at resorts and hotels.

It was bedlam in many parts of the island state. Parents were shoving their children into storm drains. After 47 minutes of terror, another alert told the panicked islanders that this had been a false alarm.

It turns out that an employee "hit the wrong button" and sent out the alert. However, people affected were reasonably furious that it took so long to correct the error.

Maine

The false alarm in Hawaii was barely out of the headlines when another inaccurate alert was sent to residents of Maine. The alert warned people in the coastal city of Portland that a tsunami was incoming.