This reminds me of the end of the world predictions of Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Her followers built fallout shelters, armed themselves, bought "survival" food from her and prepared for doomsday. One woman even shot her dog because she was not allowed to take a pet into the "shelter".
After the world did not end, and people who had maxed out their credit cards and sold everything found that the world went on, some of her followers left the cult. One ex-member told me she still had lots of wheat left and was trying to sell her survival food. She found that the wheat had grit and small rocks in it, so it wasn't even good as feed for animals.