Japan has extended its natural disaster preparations to vending machines, which 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, located in a region that is vulnerable to powerful earthquake.
The machines, which contain about 300 bottles and cans of soft drinks and 150 emergency food items, including nutritional supplements, have been installed near buildings that have been designated as evacuation shelters.
They are designed to “unlock” and make their contents available free of charge at heavy rain warning, or an evacuation order after a quake of an upper five or higher on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of seven.
Their contents must be paid for the rest of the time, the newspaper added.
In another first, a vending machine with a radio that will automatically issue emergency broadcasts was set up in a park in Tokyo. The radio will be activated by earthquakes registering 5 or higher on intensity scale, and transmit evacuation and other vital information from a local community radio station.
