Alcohol sales dropped following Christchurch quake - study

In the weeks following the devastating February 22, 2011, alcohol sales dropped in Christchurch. Photo / Geoff Sloan

The immediate stress of the Christchurch earthquakes may have caused countless headaches - but not hangovers.

That's the findings of a newly published Lincoln University study that looked at buying habits in the weeks following the devastating February 22, 2011, quake and found survival items were in demand at Christchurch supermarkets while booze sales dropped.

"There is no evidence that consumption of potentially harmful products or unhealthy foods increased immediately after the disaster," said lead author Dr Sharon Forbes, who used bar code scanner data supplied by research company Nielsen to look at buying habits straight after the quake.

The disaster-struck residents turned away from alcohol and cigarettes in the first week, and instead bought plenty of water - sales of it were up 329 per cent - along with torches, matches, phone cards, cleaning products and canned goods.

"We were running on adrenalin - there was not the need for hedonistic goods such as alcohol."

But while consumers focused on satisfying their physiological needs, that adrenalin soon wore off and after the dust had settled, wine sales rose by 20 per cent above pre-purchasing levels.

Over the next several weeks after the quake, there were also decreases in consumption in the majority of product categories, particularly perishable products, baby products and tobacco.

Sales of toiletries also went down.

Dr Forbes said that as large scale natural disasters were increasing, research like this could have implications for consumers, retailers and those involved with humanitarian logistics.

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