Missile Alert !! -- Things Just Got Real

8:07 this morning I was faced with a strong dose of "real"...... a missile alert. We were eating breakfast with friends at a local restaurant. Interestingly, after a bit of contemplation, we opted to continue our meal and see what developed. There wasn't much we could that would make a difference, so why not enjoy our hot breakfast. Nobody else in the restaurant did much different....patrons kept eating, waitresses kept working. Interesting non-response. 

People turned to electronic media. Cellphones and tablets came out. People looked for confirmation. After 4-5 minutes the public sirens still hadn't gone off, no civil defense alerts issued, everyone was confused and beginning to believe it was a false alarm. Twitter was abuzz, but everything else was quiet. Then Tulsi Gabbard twittered a false alarm notice and a local emergency worker confirmed it.....false alarm. Nooooooooooow we had a conversation topic to last us the rest of the day! Everybody was talking about it. 

Around where I am, there isn't any viable shelter to run to. Don't look up into the sky and get into a building is about all you can do that would make a difference. Most people I've talked with tended to continue what they were already doing, not panicking. Emergency personnel shifted into action, reporting to their stations. Otherwise, not much excitement. 

Ka'u isn't high on North Korea's hit list. But I don't have much confidence in their ability to accurately hit a target. So even if a missile was targeting Honolulu, we could very well be in immediate danger if the missile missed. But what's more concern for me is the aftermath. Am I prepared for that?