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This Twitter screengrab shows the alert that mistakenly went out to mobile phones in Hawaii.

Just as the Kona blend coffee was percolating on Saturday morning, a Hawaii government employee punched one wrong computer key and plunged the islands into a state of bafflement.

There was some panic and some tears, but mainly, say Canadians on the ground in the Aloha State, there was general confusion about how to respond to a manner of attack most North Americans have given little consideration since the duck-and-cover days of the Cold War.

"I haven't practised for a ballistic missile attack since the 1960s in elementary school," said Vancouver-based photographer Nick Didlick, who was on the Big Island with his wife to shoot the PGA Tour's Sony Hawaii Open. "There was this sense of people wondering 'What are we supposed to do in this case?' Mostly, people were waiting around for someone to tell them what to do."

The warning that was erroneously sent to mobile devices across Hawaii on Saturday came with few instructions: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

Tourists and locals waited nearly 40 minutes before the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sent out a correction saying the warning had been issued by mistake.

But for Canadians on the ground, it was a moment they won't soon forget, whether it was spent in quiet contemplation or sheer terror.

Karen McPherson, an Alberta MLA staying on the western side of Maui, saw the warning and immediately jumped in her car with a friend to drive for the nearest tsunami evacuation route. She couldn't explain why, saying only, "that was the only thing I could think of to do in that moment."

Oshawa-born Olympic mountain biker Emily Batty was starting on an eight-hour ride on Maui when she saw the strange notification appear on her phone. Her first impulse was to consult Twitter. "Not sure what to do," she wrote. "Sirens going off."

Unperturbed, they saddled up and pedalled a 214-kilometre route.

On the island of Kauai, former Globe and Mail journalist Rod Mickleburgh said the threat of a missile strike couldn't break the island's spell. "No one moved," he said by Facebook. "People continued with their leisurely breakfast, priorities firmly in place. I glanced at the sky, saw no evidence of missiles, and had another coffee."

His reaction was similar to that of his fellow Canadian journalist Mr. Didlick, who continued eating breakfast outside with his wife for roughly 10 minutes after the warning came across his three mobile devices before a resort employee ushered patrons indoors.

Ever the professional, his next move was predictable. "We headed up to the room to get the cameras," he said. "I told my wife, 'Let's go down to the beach and we'll shoot the mushroom cloud over Honolulu. That'll be our last photo.'"

An emergency message alerting Hawaiians of an incoming ballistic missile was sent out in error. Conway G. Gittens reports.

Reuters

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