Japanese people worry about another earthquake and frantically rush to buy bottled water

On the afternoon of August 8th, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred near Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast of Kyushu Island and Shikoku Island. Although the earthquake's epicenter was deep and did not cause much impact, due to concerns about affecting the nearby Nankai Trough, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued the "Temporary Information on Nankai Trough Earthquake in Japan - Warning of a Huge Earthquake", which is the first huge earthquake warning ever issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

A "huge earthquake" generally refers to a strong earthquake that occurs only once every 100 to 150 years, with a magnitude of 8 or even 9 and above. Once it occurs, it will cause devastating damage. The meteorological agency warned that a major earthquake might occur again in the next week, which led to panic among the people, and they rushed to buy up bottled water in many supermarkets.

In the areas designated as "Promotion Areas for Earthquake Disaster Prevention Measures in the Nankai Trough", more and more people flocked to supermarkets, drugstores, convenience stores, hardware stores, etc. to buy drinking water, and the shelves of many stores were emptied. Instant food, cassette stoves and gas cylinders, support rods for fixing furniture, and non-slip mats have also become hot-selling items. Some stores said that sales reached 10 times the usual amount.

Starting from the evening of the 8th, the number of people buying drinking water gradually increased at the "Home Center Yamashin Tomobe Store" in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Employees put 50 cases of bottled water from the warehouse on the shelves and ordered an additional 70 cases. As the rush to buy continued, Fukukazu Nobuo, an emeritus professor at Nagoya University, said he hoped everyone would stay calm and not panic too much. "Blind and excessive rush-buying actions may trigger a chain reaction".