I'd buy loads of fruit and veg and then empty out our closets and store it really carefully. It's winter here and there is no fresh fruit in the garden.
Then I'd fill a trolley with as much dried beans, pasta, rice, lentils as I could, and stock cubes by the hundreds. Virgin Olive oil and sugar too.
I'd keep unloading the trolley and going back in for more for as long as I could.
After our 7.1 earthquake 2 years ago I drove our truck down to the nearest supermarket to see what peoples reactions were. It was mayhem. The supermarket was busy sweeping up broken jars and bottles etc and when the did open they put restrictions on what people could buy. There were hundreds of people driving out from the city where the epicentre of the quake was, and the supermarket was restricting them to 2 bottles of water each. I ended up buying my two and giving them to a woman with small children (I have water tanks at home).
People were really panicked. Due to the power outages, it was cash only. I keep $200 in my purse anyway so I was fine but I stood near a man who had $20 so he chose to spend it on 2 bottles of water, a small pack of diapers for his baby and the rest on cigarettes!!!
I bought dried goods and 4 bottles of wine and in the chaos at the checkout, the woman in front of me stole my wine after I'd paid for it!!!! Normally Kiwis are laid back, cheerful people but I saw people getting really agressive with the checkout staff and each other. I stayed in that shop for about an hour from the moment it opened and in that time all water was gone in the first 20 minutes, quickly followed by all the juice and soft drinks. All the staples such as milk, yoghurt, bread was gone even though it was being rationed.
As we were queuing to get in streams of cars were arriving in the car park, cruising around and then seeing the queues, roaring off to the next one. I heard people pleading their case to staff even before the doors opened giving reasons why they needed special treatment over every one else.
It was like being in a nasty but fascinating reality tv show. It was addictive. The upshot of what I saw was that we keep ourselves in stock and ready for the next event. Unfortunately we are a low income family and so there are things that we can't afford to stock up on. We also live in a tiny house with not much room so I've had to prioritize but we could survive a good long time so long as our garden remains productive.
I would head out to the shops if possible in the event of disaster looming but if everyone had the same warning, I'm not sure if I'd stick it out and try to shop. It could get real nasty real soon.
As a result of your post I think I might draw up a list this week and go get it now, just in case. Thanks.
------------- Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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