‘People stocking up on water and noodles’

CANNED goods, batteries, bread and bottled water have vanished from store shelves and long lines of cars circle petrol stations as Japan grapples with a new risk set off by last week’s earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis: panic-buying.

Far outside the disaster zone, stores are running out of necessities, raising government fears that hoarding may impede the delivery of emergency food aid to those who really need it.

“The situation is hysterical,” said Tomonao Matsuo, spokesman for instant noodle maker Nissin Foods, which donated a million items including its Cup Noodles for disaster relief. “People feel safer just by buying Cup Noodles.”

The company is trying to boost production, despite earthquake damage which closed down its facilities in Ibaraki prefecture until yesterday.

The frenzied buying is compounding supply problems from damaged and congested roads, stalled factories, reduced train service and other disruptions caused by Friday’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s north-east coast and the major tsunami it generated.

Renho, the minister in charge of consumer affairs, who goes by one name, asked people to refrain from buying items they do not really need.

Many shelves were bare at Family Mart convenience store west of Tokyo. Owner Kazuhiro Minami was expecting a small delivery yesterday, but said he would have to shut anyway if the electric utility decided to go ahead with proposed three-hour rolling blackouts.

“I’m really, really worried,” he said, blaming hoarding, distribution problems and fears of another quake.

Even in the western city of Hiroshima, untouched by the earthquake and tsunami, stores are running out of batteries and the media is warning people not to hoard, a local government official said.

Panasonic, which donated 500,000 batteries, 10,000 torches and 300 million yen (€2.65m) for quake victims, boosted battery production at its Osaka plant by adding work shifts. It also increased shipments from its battery factories in Thailand and Indonesia.

Retailers said they have not seen such panic in years, perhaps since the oil crisis in the 1970s.

“We have been working round the clock to improve supplies to the store,” said Anthony Rose, a Hong Kong-based vice president for Wal-Mart Asia, owners of the Japan- ese supermarket chain Seiyu Ltd. “There should be a positive shift in the next 48 hours.”

Shoko Amesara, spokes- woman for Daiei, another supermarket chain said: “The needs are surging because people are suddenly preparing for emergencies and stocking up on bottled water, Cup Noodles and other items with a long shelf-life.”

Japan is also expecting an electricity shortage, because 11 nuclear power plants in north-eastern Japan, which furnish much of the power for the Tokyo area, have been shut down after the quake.

The government urges people to turn off their lights as much as possible and ordered partial blackouts in some cities.

Tokyo commuter trains have been more packed than usual during rush- hour, as major railways are running on reduced scheduling to save power.

Picture: Tsunami survivors cook in front of their damaged house in Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture yesterday. Picture: AP