Twenty minutes.
According to experts, if North Korea decided to launch a nuclear bomb, it would take 20 minutes for it to reach Hawaii, CNN reported.
It would take about five minutes for the missile to be tracked, and the island state would have 15 minutes to prepare.
Hawaii’s preparedness plan as of July was based on the scenario of a 15-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated 1,000 feet above Honolulu, The Hill reported. People would be told to “get inside, stay inside and stay tuned.”
According to the state of Hawaii’s coordinated public preparedness message in the event of nuclear detonation:
– Don’t run. Stay inside.
– Stay away from windows.
– If you are driving, pull over and seek shelter or lie flat on the ground.
– Do not look at the flash of light.
What to do in case of nuclear detonation by Metro US on Scribd
Retired Lt. Gen. James Clapper told Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night that North Korea’s threats should be taken with a grain of salt. The same was said of then-primary candidate Donald Trump… and now he’s the president in charge during a potential missile crisis. As one Metro editor noted, “Our grains of salt are getting bigger.”
North Korea said on Wednesday it is “carefully examining” plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would “face fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Sen. John McCain responded to the rhetoric on KTAR radio: “I take exception to the president’s comments because you gotta be able to do what you say you’re gonna do. I don’t think that’s a way you attack an issue and a challenge like this.”
North Korea has made no secret of plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the United States and has ignored international calls to halt its nuclear and missile programs.
The strike plan would be put into practice at any moment once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision, a spokesman for the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by the North’s state-run KCNA news agency.
“The KPA Strategic Force is now carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 in order to contain the U.S. major military bases on Guam, including the Anderson Air Force Base,” the spokesman said. The plan would be reported to the North’s Supreme Command soon, the spokesman said, without citing a date.
Reuters contributed to this report.
