Japanese vending machines to automatically offer free food in earthquakes

Vending machines in Japan will offer free food and drink in the event of a major earthquake or typhoon.

Two machines have been installed in the western coastal city of Ako, which lies in a region that seismologists say is vulnerable to the Nankai Trough megaquake that is expected to hit the country’s central and southwest Pacific coast in the next few decades.

The machines contain about 300 bottles and cans of soft drinks and 150 emergency food items, including nutritional supplements. When an evacuation order is issued because of a major earthquake, or similar disaster, the vending machines “will unlock, allowing evacuees access to the food and beverages for free”, said The Mainichi.

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“During normal times,” said the Japanese paper, “the vending machines are just like any others, selling their products.” So “there is apparently almost no worry that the food and drinks will expire, preventing any from going to waste”.

Their installation is part of an agreement between the Ako municipal government and Tokyo-based pharmaceutical firm Earth Corp. A spokesperson for the company said: “We’d like to spread this throughout the country as a socially oriented project.”

A city official said: “We expect that the stockpile will lead to the safety and security of our residents.”

In “another first”, a vending machine with a radio that will automatically issue emergency broadcasts was set up in a park in Tokyo earlier this year, reported The Guardian.

The radio would be activated by earthquakes registering 5 or higher on the Japanese intensity scale, and “transmit evacuation and other vital information from a local community radio station”.

There is a “70-80% chance that the Nankai Trough Megathrust Earthquake will occur in the next 30 years”, and “fatalities may exceed 320,000”, said Kobe University’s Research Center for Urban Safety.