Featured Image Credit: Twitch/Shiori_Japan1
Topics: World News, Twitch
Emily Brown
A Japanese Twitch streamer was forced to run from the room during a live broadcast as a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the country.
Streamer Shiori_Japan1 only joined Twitch in November 2023, but one of her videos has caught the attention of people across the globe after it captured the earthquake which hit the central region of Japan on Monday (January 1).
Shiori, who is based in the city of Niigata, was hosting a 'Just Chatting' stream on New Year's Day when the ground began to shake, causing her to say 'woah'.
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As she sat in front of the camera, Shiori began to look around the room as she told viewers: "That's a big one."
Viewers continued to comment on her video as the shaking became more intense, but Shiori's attention was pulled away from the livestream when a loud alarm began to sound on her phone.
She showed her phone to the camera as a voice warned her of an earthquake, before she jumped to her feet and said: "I've got to go."
The recording caught the rumble of the quake which hit the country at around 4pm local time, causing homes to collapse and triggering tsunami warnings.
The livestream continued as the room shook violently, with the tremors lasting for more than 40 seconds after Shiori left.
When things settled, Shiori returned to the stream and assured viewers she was okay.
"Wow. That was [a] big one," she added.
At least 48 people are known to have died in the earthquake, and rescuers are still working to free people who became trapped as buildings and infrastructure collapsed.
Barnie Davies, who lives in Kanazawa, told the BBC the earthquake was different from some of those the country has experienced recently.
"Recently we've had quite a few small earthquakes, but this one just continued and got bigger and bigger," he said.
"It lasted about a minute-and-a-half. It was really quite scary."
Davies said he tried to film the earthquake to show his family, but it 'just got worse'.
“When I went upstairs everything had fallen down," he said. Davies' family are now among those who have evacuated their home.
The country's prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said: "The government has deployed emergency rescue teams from the Self-Defence Forces, police and fire departments to the area and is doing its utmost to save lives and rescue victims and survivors, but we have received reports that there are still many people waiting to be rescued under collapsed buildings."
Japan has been hit by a number of aftershocks in the wake of the earthquake, including one which measured 4.9.