Shopping data highlights priorities after natural disaster: New Zealand study

People living in the devastated city of Christchurch forsook comfort foods and alcohol after the deadly February 2011 earthquake in favor of more practical items, according to a pioneering study out Friday.

Research from Christchurch-based Lincoln University used bar code scanner data to look at buying habits immediately after the Feb. 22 quake, which left 185 people dead.

"There is no evidence that consumption of potentially harmful products or unhealthy foods increased immediately after the disaster," senior marketing lecturer Dr Sharon Forbes said in a statement.

It was the first real empirical study she knew of that looked at actual products purchased after a disaster without relying on asking people to recall their behavior.

Residents turned away from alcohol and cigarettes in the first week after the disaster, stepping up purchases of torches, matches, phone cards, cleaning products and canned goods.

Water sales were up 329 percent, she said.

"We bought utilitarian goods," she said Forbes.

"We were running on adrenaline. There was not the need for hedonistic goods such as alcohol."

However, while water sales remained high, wine sales, which fell by 20 percent straight after the event, were up more than 20 percent on pre-quake levels after the first week.

For several weeks after the quake, sales fell in most product categories, particularly perishable products, baby products, toiletries and tobacco.

The large numbers of people leaving the city, especially those with young babies, could have affected the figures, she said.

With large scale natural disasters increasing, the research could have implications for consumers, retailers and those involved with humanitarian logistics, she said.

"In the aftermath concentrate on getting the utilitarian goods in, as they are what people want." Endi