Verizon customers in New Jersey alarmed after emergency alert
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There was a situation in New Jersey on Monday.
The state that was the scene for Orson Welles’ 1938 ‘War of the Worlds’ radio broadcast -- you know, the one that triggered mass panic among listeners who believed a martian invasion was occurring -- faced a bit of a scare Monday.
Verizon Wireless sent an emergency alert via text to wireless customers in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties warning of a ‘civil emergency’ and telling people to ‘take shelter now,’ according to the Associated Press. The message was intended to be a test but wasn’t labeled as such, the company later said. The alert reportedly started a chain reaction across a wide swatch of central New Jersey, prompting a high volume of 911 calls.
‘Within about 90 minutes, the state homeland security and emergency management offices posted on Twitter that no emergency existed, but by then people had called a variety of local, county and state agencies to express their concerns,’ the AP report said.
A Verizon spokeswoman told the AP in an email that the company was sorry for any inconvenience caused, but didn’t say why the message was sent without being labeled as a test.
Several people in New Jersey took to Twitter after receiving the text.
‘I figured it was a hoax when I was still alive,’ tweeted Kevin Tor.
‘Of course I fit the qualifications for this emergency alert text,’ Kelly Khadam-Hir said.
But it wasn’t all bad news.
‘Just got out early [because] of an emergency alert,’ said Twitter user Jen Vincentini, who then thanked the telecommunications company.
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-- Andrea Chang
