Japanese urged to avoid panic-buying as megaquake fears spread

Authorities in Japan urged people to avoid hoarding as anxiety over a possible megaquake triggered a spike Saturday in demand for disaster kits and daily necessities.

In its first such advisory, the weather agency said a huge earthquake was more likely in the aftermath of a magnitude 7.1 jolt in the south on Thursday which left 14 people injured.

 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday canceled his planned four-day trip to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, as the country's weather agency issued its first-ever alert over the risk of a possible Nankai Trough megaquake.

After attending a ceremony in Nagasaki marking the 79th anniversary of atomic bombing, Kishida told reporters that he canceled the trip to "focus on the government's response and information dissemination" regarding a potential megaquake.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued its Nankai Trough Earthquake Extra Information for the first time on Thursday evening, warning that the risk of a potential massive earthquake around the Nankai Trough that runs along the Pacific coast has increased.

The advisory does not recommend evacuation but calls for reviewing routine quake preparedness and staying alert for about a week, Xinhua reported.