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Oklahoma Twister; Another Record for Gas Prices; Jobs and Gender: Men Losing, Women Gaining; Powerful China Quake; Hepatitis C Outbreak

Aired May 12, 2008 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton looks for a win in West Virginia after losing her superdelegate lead in the NEWSROOM.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are covering three big stories for you this morning in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Dangerous storms blamed for 22 deaths from Oklahoma to Georgia this morning. In Florida, wildfires force hundreds of people out of their homes. A major interstate also affected.

And breaking news out of China, 3,000 to 5,000 people reported killed in an earthquake. That is according to Chinese media, almost 900 children feared buried in the rubble of their collapsed school.

Let's get right to CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime Florcruz.

Jaime, a lot to cover from your perspective this morning. Get us started.

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Tony, the casualties could rise very fast. It's still very sketchy right now just six hours after the earthquake struck this epicenter in Sichuan province. However, what we know right now is that hundreds of thousands of casualties. It's because a lot of the structures in the epicenter may have not been able to sustain such a huge earthquake.

That's the major source of casualties about -- in 1976 when a huge earthquake hit another city near Beijing. This time the rescue operation is under way. The officials are just beginning to piece together the picture. And so far it looks very, very bad. The Chinese prime minister himself leading the rescue operations. The Chinese army, the People's Liberation Army also in the forefront of the rescue operations.

But meantime, the geologists are on their way as well to ascertain. Their biggest fear is another -- aftershocks could further damage the already badly damaged structures and more people could be buried in the rubbles of the buildings in the epicenter -- Tony?

HARRIS: And Jaime, let me go through a couple of the other tidbits on this. 7.8, this quake in magnitude in central China. Give me a sense -- could you feel the earthquake there at our bureau in Beijing?

FLORCRUZ: Yes, we did feel the earthquake as far away as Beijing. When we were in the office in the afternoon, I saw the shades in my office shaking. And for about a minute or so I felt like I was in a ship. And when I looked out, many, many residents in Beijing were rushing out of big buildings. They evacuated peacefully. But it's still a very, very tense situation, even in the capital of Beijing.

The residents especially in the places near the epicenter are warned of further aftershocks in the next few hours -- Tony?

HARRIS: And Jamie, so we can put this together in our own minds, how far away is Beijing from the epicenter?

FLORCRUZ: We are over 1,000 kilometers away from the epicenter. We are about 2 1/2 hours plane ride from the epicenter in Sichuan province. The epicenter happens to be the habitat of the giant pandas in Sichuan province. It's also a typically mountainous region there where they have 110,000 residents. So the good news is, it's not a heavily populated area.

However, the bad news is many buildings there are made of bricks...

HARRIS: Yes.

FLORCRUZ: ... and are not able to sustain such a huge earthquake as we experienced today -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Jamie Florcruz, from our Beijing bureau. Jaime, appreciate it, thank you.

NGUYEN: Well, also in the headlines this morning, this -- picking up the pieces in the plains in the southeast after a series of violent storms and tornadoes over the weekend. At least 22 people killed across Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia. A deadly Midwest tornado just ripped through this part of Oklahoma as you see here. The twister was a mile wide as times. All that is left of this house, just the bathroom.

Tornadoes also tore through Arkansas, the high winds crumpled sheet metal like paper, snapped utility poles like matchsticks. Several cars flipped over. Georgia, declared a state of emergency in six counties on Sunday and President Bush has promised federal aid for the hardest hit areas.

The head of FEMA will be touring those regions tomorrow.

Let's talk now about Picher, Oklahoma. It is one of the areas hardest hit. Our Susan Candiotti is there now.

And Susan, just looking behind you, what a mess. Walk us through the damage.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As you get a look, Betty, of the ravages of this tornado, we want to give you a few more details about what happened yesterday. As you take a look, for example, at what was once a home here. First of all, let me explain to you that there were -- there was a young mother who died yesterday as we were told. She was shielding her baby at the time. We know now that her husband was also at home, just a few blocks away from where we are standing now. All three of them, according to authorities, were blown from their home and discovered about a block away.

The husband has survived with head and back injuries. His wife did not make it. And their 4-year-old son is also hospitalized.

But let me tell you that Picher is a community that already had been clinging to life. Why? Because of polluted air, water and all cavens(ph), all dating back to these lead and zinc mine, mines that were shut down in the 1970s. And there's been a federal buy-out program and cleanup ever since.

And now, a tornado may be the last straw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice over): The killer storm that tore through Picher was so unsparing it even stripped bark from trees. A 20-square block area was crushed.

JOHN HUTCHISON, TORNADO VICTIM: This was the closet.

CANDIOTTI: His home is history, yet John Hutchison somehow can muster a smile.

HUTCHISON: Because I'm alive.

CANDIOTTI: He and his family huddled inside a closet as this frightening massive black funnel cloud barreled toward his home and ripped it right from its foundation. The family landed about 70 feet away with a closet door on top of them.

(On camera): But the storm shoved you way over here. And where did you wind up?

HUTCHISON: Under this door just on the other side of this little table.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): It was one of several tornadoes that reeked havoc this weekend killing at least 21 people in Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia. In Picher a young mother died shielding her toddler. The baby is hospitalized. Police say two women were crushed inside their home. Three others died when they were thrown from a car.

Sue Sigle thankful she wasn't home. Her house is a heap of rubble. The widowed school teacher is now getting help from students and others to salvage what she can including a cherished souvenir from a fellow Oklahoman.

SUE SIGLE, PICHER, OKLAHOMA RESIDENT: Mickey Mantle autographed book -- autographed ball. GOV. BRAD HENRY, OKLAHOMA: We're just fortunate there weren't more fatalities.

CANDIOTTI: Oklahoma's governor toured the devastation. Picher had more than a share of it. The old lead and zinc mining community is fast becoming a ghost town. It's in the middle of a multimillion dollar federal housing buy-out, an environmental cleanup blamed on contamination.

And now this.

(On camera): What does this tornado do to the town of Picher?

It's just finishing blow to a dying town.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And that is the question now. What will happen to all of the people as you look at this huge mess? For example, Mr. Hutchison, who you met. He was supposed to have his house bought out a couple of years ago. Then they told him it was last year. And now they just told him it was going to be next year.

So will the government come forward -- they hope -- and now pay them immediately or will they have to rely on insurance? All of that is unclear but we hope to get some answers in the next day or so.

Look at the expanse of the destruction here. And this is just part of the town a 20-block area that was cut down by that tornado. What will happen to all of these people? Well, this is one time that we can tell you for sure no one has any plans to rebuild here.

Back to you, Betty.

NGUYEN: Yes, considering the buy-out and the environmental cleanup on top of the devastation that we're looking at today.

All right. Susan Candiotti, joining us live. Thank you, Susan.

HARRIS: You know, at a time like this -- I'm really interested in Rob Marciano's take on the storms. This is a man who has covered so many of these tornadoes and seen the devastation that these storms can bring.

Rob, good morning to you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Hang on, (INAUDIBLE).

NGUYEN: Yes. This wicked weather lately.

HARRIS: Yes.

NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Rob.

HARRIS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You got it, guys.

HARRIS: More help for Florida firefighters this morning. One hundred additional firefighters are expected to be called to help battle brush fires in Brevard County. Pretty dramatic pictures here. Fires have burned more than 2,000 acres there and threatened homes.

Farther up the East Coast brush fires forced the evacuation of about 400 homes in Coco Palm Bay and Daytona Beach. Heavy smoke forced the closing of Interstate-95 along at 15-mile stretch in Brevard yesterday, but it is -- here's the good news -- open this morning.

And the Democrats' race for the White House. For the first time in weeks, Hillary Clinton goes into a primary virtually assured of a big win. But is it too little too late in her battle against Barack Obama?

There he is, CNN's Sean Callebs previewing tomorrow's contest in West Virginia.

Sean, good to see you. He is with the Election Express there in Charleston. Why is this expected, Sean, to be an easy win for Hillary Clinton? Is this just the case where the demographics of the state favor her?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the -- the demographics of the Democratic side this certainly favor her a great deal. And we're seeing that in the poll numbers. If you look closely, in some polls, she's favored by as much as 40, 40 percentage points. So it could be a huge crushing win for her tomorrow.

We had a chance to speak with a number of voters at an American legion hall over the weekend. People with very strong opinions and people who say they -- what they know they want from their next president. And that is someone to find a spark for this state's economy, an economy that was suffering even before the recent economic downturn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS (voice over): He may be looking more and more like the Democratic nominee, but in West Virginia, it's Barack Obama who is playing catch-up.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe in our ability to perfect this nation.

CALLEBS: Here in this labor intensive blue-collar state, Hillary Clinton's message plays well.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to get rid of any provision in the tax code that gives a penny to anybody who exports a job out of West Virginia.

CALLEBS: At the American Legion Lodge in Huntington.

DAVE MCCOMAS, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: She's a fighter.

CALLEBS: You'll find a group who may not agree on issues but all want to see the next president help stimulate their state's economy.

EARL DAMEWOOD, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: West Virginia has a lot of assets, we educate our people, and then we export them because we don't have jobs here.

CALLEBS: The latest census figures show West Virginia ranks 48th in household income, ahead of only Mississippi and Louisiana. Steel, coal and other industries have seen jobs erode here. The population is dwindling as well. But they say, bills just keep going up.

MCCOMAS: The cost of health care is out of sight, just like gasoline.

CALLEBS: In West Virginia, gas tops $3.85 a gallon. The plea from candidates from people like Charity Conner(ph) find a way to put more money in her pocket.

CHARITY CONNER, WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENT: This is not good. I'm a stay-at-home mother of two children, and my husband is the only income, and this is very hard on us. Gasoline -- and not just gasoline, groceries, clothing, everything's went up.

CALLEBS: And as you may imagine from guys who gather at the American Legion, America's armed forces are on their minds.

DAMEWOOD: I think the problems with West Virginians are the problems we have all over the country. And that's we are trying to build a nation overseas in Iraq when we ought to be trying to build this nation, rebuild this nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: And if we look at the number of registered voters in this state, the Democrats outnumber the Republicans by a near two to one margin. However, Senator John McCain is conceding nothing.

Tony, if we look back to 2000, 2004, George Bush carried this state.

And Tony, quickly in the spirit of full disclosure, you could maybe see the beautiful West Virginia Capitol Dome over my shoulder. Somewhat blurred.

HARRIS: Yes.

CALLEBS: Rainy and cold outside, so we chose to take advantage of this wonderful, nice, warm election bus we have here.

HARRIS: It is a glorious thing, from what I'm told.

Hey, got to ask you, Sean, you mentioned that West Virginia voted for George W. Bush in 2000, 2004. Does it look pretty good for John McCain to carry the state in the general election or is this considered a swing state?

CALLEBS: Difficult to say because clearly a lot of people are very frustrated with the economy, with the state of the war overseas. But in the people that we spoke with yesterday who talked about who they're going to vote for, from the Democratic side in the primary, a few of those said, you know what? I am going to vote for John McCain come November.

So read into that...

HARRIS: Yes.

CALLEBS: ... what you will.

HARRIS: Yes. Sean Callebs for us in Charleston, West Virginia, on the warm, cool, dry Election Express.

Good to see you, Sean. Thanks.

NGUYEN: Well, let's give a look at West Virginia by the numbers because it is one of only six remaining contests for the Democrats. The stakes relatively small. A total of 28 delegates to the Democrats' national convention. But interest, no doubt it's high. A record number of West Virginians have cast early primary ballots ahead of tomorrow's vote.

So let's take a look at the big picture as well. According to CNN's latest count, Obama and Clinton are now tied in the superdelegate count with 273 each. It is a tie. Obama caught up to Clinton with a commitment from a California superdelegate. And that person says that she was suede by Obama's commitment to young voters.

It is a breathtaking reversal for Clinton because earlier this year she led the superdelegate race by more than 100.

And you can find out more about the candidates at CNNpolitics.com. CNNpolitics.com is your source for everything political.

HARRIS: Help for cyclone survivors, CNN exclusive video. A U.S. aid plane arrives in Myanmar. More flights are planned. We're there covering it for you in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Hello, everybody, on this Monday morning. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Betty Nguyen.

Hepatitis C. Health officials worry of an outbreak linked to the reuse of is syringes. What you need to know, ahead.

ANNOUNCER: CNN NEWSROOM brought to you by...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: American aid arriving in Myanmar. The first flight landed just a few hours ago. This is exclusive CNN footage of the plane's arrival. On board, water and blankets.

Those supplies are being turned over to Myanmar government. The U.S. has clearance for two more aid flights tomorrow for U.S. Navy ships, including the USS Essex are moving closer to the coast. All of them ready to provide support if they get the go ahead from Myanmar's military junta.

Right now international aid has reached about 200,000 cyclone survivors. But that is just a drop in the bucket. A British aid agency says as many as 1.5 million -- if you can imagine that -- could be in danger if they don't get help soon.

NGUYEN: The numbers are just staggering. And they are running out of food and more importantly water.

Joining me now on the phone is a CNN correspondent in Myanmar with the latest there.

What can you tell us about what you're seeing on the ground in Myanmar?

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty. You know we've been talking so much about these stories the last couple of days. And today something happened that was really bad for all those people in the affected areas. We had some very torrential rain here in the area. And that, of course, is awful for those people who have lost their houses and were living in dire conditions anyway.

We were able to get into really the hardest hit areas of the cyclone. And here's what we saw down there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As we make our way down the Irrawaddy delta, it doesn't take long until we're confronted with the true magnitude of the disaster here in southern Myanmar. The shore is lined with corpses, decomposing in the Southeast Asian heat. Nine days after cyclone Nargis hit this area, the dead still haven't been cleared.

It is images like these, Myanmar's military rulers are trying to prevent the world from seeing. This goes on for miles. Many of the villages along the shore are eradicated from the landscape.

This is Damya Chung(ph). A little over a week ago, this village consisted of about 200 homes, the people here tell us, but now only four structures remain halfway intact.

Uven Say(ph) shows us where his house used to stand, right on the bank of the river.

"When I saw the water coming, I just put my two nephews on my shoulders and ran inland," he tells me. He was one of the lucky ones who survived. But his son and his son's entire family drowned in the flooding brought on by the cyclone. The villagers here tell us of about 500 people who used to live here, two thirds are missing and possibly dead. And they bring us to Bubba(ph) and her little brother now Umila(ph), now orphans.

":My mother has died," Bubba says sobbing. Her little brother is so traumatized he cannot stop crying.

But the villagers have no time to mourn the dead. Their last food supplies are running low. The rice fields have been destroyed and they have no drinking water. No aid agencies have made it to Damya Chung.

The village chief says one local government official stopped by here in the past week. He left the people two boxes of biscuits.

"We are dividing the little food we have left among all of us," he says.

With their food stocks depleted, no water, and no government aid to speak of, we leave the villagers in Damya Chung to an uncertain future. One of the many devastated places from this river of dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you know, Betty, as we were going along that shoreline, going along that river, I mean we saw a lot of villages just like the one that we just saw in that report, a lot of village that were even more destroyed than this one where you really saw not a single structure standing in the entire village.

But the one thing that people told us is of greatest importance for them right now is getting clean drinking water. Most of them still have a little but of rice left because this was a big rice- producing region before the cyclone hit. They still had some on stockpiles. The biggest problem there right now is drinking water -- Betty.

NGUYEN: No doubt. And that particular village, as you said, did have some rice. But as you travel around -- it's really hard to see these pictures of bodies, corpses, just everywhere. Is the simple fact of they just not having enough supplies to survive, let alone try to pick up the dead and properly dispose of those bodies? Or is this something right now they have too many problems they can't even deal with that?

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the villagers told us is they are trying to at least dispose of the bodies that are in their area, sort of around their village. They are trying to bury those. They are trying to find those and bury those. Certainly you have a lot of other problems on their hands as well.

But with some of the places that we went through, there simply aren't any villagers left. You know, there's still bodies laying there. But the whole village has been eradicated. There isn't anybody to pick up bodies. And certainly there didn't seem like any sort of government effort to try and pick up those bodies, try and go along the shore.

As we drove down that river, we saw a military speedboat that passed us very often. But we didn't see any sort of effort to try and pick up those dead bodies. And certainly with those villages being completely eradicated there simply isn't anybody around for the people, as you said, have very, very pressing problems themselves, trying to pick up the bits and pieces -- the few bits and pieces that they do have left, and try and survive these next couple of days and possibly weeks, because a lot of them say they're not really counting on more government aid to come in -- Betty.

NGUYEN: And quickly, on those problems -- those pressing problems, are you seeing disease and starvation set in in some of these communities?

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we haven't really seen disease and starvation set in yet. But that doesn't mean that it's not happening. We only traveled a very small, sort of area of this river.

But on the other hand, people did say that they are very hungry at this point, though they are not starving. They do have very limited food supplies. They're dividing what they have amongst each other. And they say they don't know how long that's going to last. And they really need new supplies to come in as fast as possible.

But certainly we didn't have the sense that they thought that that was going to happen through their government at any time soon -- Betty.

NGUYEN: You know, it's been over a week. Are they angry at all? I mean are they frustrated? What are they telling you?

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, that's strange. We didn't really find -- we found lot of angry people, a lot of frustrated people as well. But it wasn't really to a boiling point yet. I mean, obviously, these people are in great need.

The people in that village especially, you have the sense they were sort of disappointed in their government, not the sense that they were really angry at the government. They did say that, you know, since were going wrong and they weren't really getting adequate food or getting adequate medicine or drinking water at all.

But it seems as though they are trying to press on, they're trying to provide for themselves as soon as they can and sort of looking these problems in the eye as soon as they can and managing them day-to-day. So it didn't really feel like they had the time to be angry at their government, though they seemed to be disappointed that they really haven't seen much aid at all in the past couple of days -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. Our CNN correspondent in Myanmar. We do want to let our viewers know that for his safety we are not reporting your name, obviously, as you are doing that important work in country. We do appreciate it and, of course, we'll be checking with you as often as possible.

So we know that you may want to help the situation there especially after hearing the stories, seeing the video. And at CNN.com, we have a special page on the devastation in Myanmar, complete with links to aid agencies that are organizing help for the region. There's a chance for you to impact your world so let us be your guide.

Also had head in the NEWSROOM. Warnings ignored.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty difficult to not get completely paranoid and ridiculous here because you kind of feel like everyone is potentially military intelligence and they were looking for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: CNN journalists putting themselves in danger. See what it takes to bring you the hidden stories inside Myanmar.

HARRIS: And breaking news, a powerful earthquake rocks China. Three thousand people feared dead. That's according to Chinese News Media. And the figure does not include almost 900 children buried in the rubble of their collapsed high school. The report does not say if the buried students are believed to be alive.

The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude quake is expected to continue to rise as rescuers search collapsed buildings. The quake was centered in central China. It rocked buildings almost 1,000 miles away in Beijing. People in Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand also felt the ground shake.

NGUYEN: Well, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

He says he was a victim of a prosecutor willing to cut corners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took my life away from me. I mean, what's the difference, buy a gun or buy words -- or buy lies, you know, gone is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Wrongly imprisoned. Should his prosecutor be held criminally responsible?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, good morning on this Monday. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Betty Nguyen.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Tony Harris. One of the hardest hit areas from the weekend storms, Picher, Oklahoma. News conference is under way right now. We're getting an update on the recovery efforts. Let's listen in.

MICHELANN DOTEN, OKLAHOMA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: How much damage these homes have. Truly you can look at some of these and know they have been destroyed. Others it will be between minor and major damage. All of that is very important as we work to the process to try to bring federal disaster assistance to this community.

If you, the media, want to join us, be at the fire station at one o'clock today and you can follow us along for a few of the stops.

Additionally, I have just been to a meeting at city hall, later this morning, water should be returning to the community. People who have the ability to have the service in their homes, they should be able to have water service by later this morning. They are instilling a boil order here. For details on exactly what that means, how long you have to boil the water and all of that, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality will be releasing that information later this morning. We'll make sure all of you have that. That will be posted at city hall as well.

Finally, we've learned that we're going to have a visit to tour and reassure this community that federal assistance is on the way by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FEMA Administrator David Paulson. They will be here tomorrow. We will have details later today for you on exactly what time we anticipate them being here. At this point tentatively we are looking at midday tomorrow for them to on the ground, touring and then visiting with all the residents and assuring them that the entire nation is behind the citizens here in Picher and ready to help them.

With that, I will turn it over now to Nelly Kelly with the American Red Cross. She has information about the services they are providing.

NELLIE KELLY, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Good morning, my name is Nellie Kelly. I'm with the American Red Cross out of Tulsa.

We really appreciate having all of you here because really that shows that the nation is focused on Oklahoma right now and the suffering people here in Picher. We really appreciate everyone's support in that regard.

The Red Cross has been serving about 200 to 300 meals and snacks so far and also delivering water to people as they are cleaning up their homes, going through the debris. Today will be our first day of serving hot meals and again we will have three large emergency response vehicles going through neighborhoods to make sure that people are well fed. The Red Cross still maintains a shelter in the town of Miama. Few people are staying there, which is good, it means they have family they can stay with. But we welcome anyone to come and stay at a Red Cross shelter or just come to eat or take a shower.

Also today, the Red Cross will begin delivering supplies to neighborhoods, large cleanup kits, shovels, rakes, gloves, goggles, dust masks so that people can be safe and have tools to use as they start cleaning up.

Now I'm going to turn it over to Cindy Fuller, she is with the Salvation Army.

CINDY FULLER, SALVATION ARMY: Good morning, I'm Cindy Fuller. I'm with the Salvation Army. I serve as the public information officer during disaster. The Salvation Army arrived on site yesterday. We served approximately 670 meals and several snacks and drinks. We will be here until there's no longer a need for our services. One of our primary roles that we are concentrating on is we have an emotional and spiritual care team that will be available to comfort and offer just someone to speak with for a lot of the residents as they come back and they are seen first-hand the damage to their homes.

HARRIS: OK. It looks like the recovery effort is rolling out just the way you would love to see it there in Picher, Oklahoma. A lot of agencies already on the ground. The Oklahoma Department of Urgency Management outlining the steps that that agency is taking to get people's lives back on track again, obviously will take some time. The Red Cross back on the ground there. The Salvation Army providing meals, a place to get a hot shower and some supplies. If you want to begin the effort yourself of picking up the pieces a lot of people doing that today. Picking up the pieces in the plains and in the southeast after a series, boy, of violent storms and tornadoes over the weekend at least 22 people killed across Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia. A deadly Midwest tornado ripped through this part of Oklahoma. The twister was a mile wide as times. All that is left of this house, the bathroom.

RALPH MORRIS, TORNADO VICTIM: This is definitely taken its toll on a small town boy. The house can be replaced. I'm thankful that my wife and two kids were safe and we made it through it.

HARRIS: Tornadoes also tore through Arkansas. The high winds crumpled sheet metal like paper and snapped utility poles like matchsticks. Winds ripped the roof off of several buildings.

ELIZABETH SMITH, TORNADO VICTIM: If you've seen the movie "Twister" that is what it sounds like. The walls were shaking, the roof was rattling, at the time across the bowling alley it took the lanes -- it took the roof off the lanes and the roof actually ended up in front of the bowling alley doors. The bathroom stall walls fell over. And we just squatted down against the ceiling with about 30 other people in the bowling alley up against the wall.

HARRIS: Georgia's governor declared a state of emergency in six counties Sunday. President Bush has already promised federal aid for the hardest hit areas. The head of FEMA will be touring those regions tomorrow along with the department secretary of homeland security Michael Chertoff as well.

NGUYEN: 22 people dead in at least three states. Rob, as we look at the maps, how many tornadoes touched down?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We had 46 -- 66. NGUYEN: 66?

MARCIANO: 20 on Sunday which this map shows. Unfortunately our Saturday map kind of gets automatically refreshed. We lost that graphically. 46 alone on Saturday. They are probably going to call this the mother's day tornado outbreak. That dramatic and that deadly.

What we talked about last half hour was the number of tornadoes we've seen this season, preliminary over 900, that is typically what we would see in the month of August. This would be the ten-year average, the shaded area. What's foreboding and kind of scary to think about, we get a lot of tornadoes during hurricane season, when tropical storms come on shore, they spin up tornadoes, they are typically weak tornadoes. You have ones, you have twos maybe. Of these 900, there have been a lot of really big storms.

These aren't just your throw-away garden variety wussy (ph) type of tornadoes. This is nasty stuff. So far, this is the seventh worst tornado season since 1950. We are only into May. We are on track certainly to maybe bust that record especially if we get one or two hurricanes and tropical storms making landfall.

All right. By the way, we have another threat for severe weather tomorrow in the same spot. We will go over that too. This storm now is off shore. This is the same storm that brought the tornadoes, same storm that is fanning flames in Florida. Now it's bringing in big time rainfall and coastal flooding. Winds 30, 40 miles an hour in spots. That has been certainly the big story for the folks who live in the northeast. Look at this. Breakwater Harbor, Delaware, 65 mile an hour wind gusts today. Cape May 58 mile an hour wind gusts. Flooding video of some of the swollen rivers there. That is in Bowie, Maryland, swollen creeks and rivers there. Look at the rainfall tallies. It is still raining there by the way. Church Town Maryland almost five inches of rainfall. D.C. almost four inches. Baltimore over 3 inches. And 3 inches in Alexandria.

They don't have rain, but they have dry winds in Florida. Record heat expected across much of Florida again today. As you know, Tony and Betty, we've got fires going on there.

NGUYEN: Wildfires.

MARCIANO: We are covering the gamut with all sorts of weather problems today.

HARRIS: Yes.

His jacket is off, the sleeves will be rolled up any second now. Thanks, Rob.

NGUYEN: Another day, another record high for gas prices. Regular costing almost $3.72 a gallon this morning, according to AAA. Get this, a year ago it was a little more than $3. You thought it was high then. Same story with diesel, $4.36 today, a year ago $2.90. Sounds like a bargain now, doesn't it? Mailing any bills today? Make sure you've got the right postage because the price of a first class stamp goes to 42 cents today, a penny increase. Mailing a postcard will cost you a penny more as well at 27 cents. But if you bought some of those forever stamps, you can still use them and save your pennies for gasoline, of course.

Take a look at the opening bell, this morning. The numbers as Wall Street waits to see how the week is going to shape up. Let look at the Dow. Not too bad. But it is still early. Up 35 points now. The NASDAQ also in positive territory up five. We will see if that keeps rising today on your Monday. We will follow it for you.

HARRIS: The economy is issue number one. What's more important than your job? Good question here. Should men worry about it more than women? What's going on here? Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business."

Ali, what's the story?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've got to give credit to my friends over at Business Week who crunched some very interesting numbers and discovered a trend that I think our viewers are going to find very interesting. We have been talking about job losses for the last several months. They dug through the data starting from November to April. And here's what we found. While there have been a lot of job losses, 700,000 of those job losses came from men, women actually gained 300,000 jobs in the same period. Isn't that amazing? There were job gains for women while 700,000 job losses. Men lost twice as many jobs as women gained. Why you ask? Because of the type of jobs that have been lost.

HARRIS: I bet manufacturing is right in there somewhere.

VELSHI: Absolutely right. Construction and manufacturing, which are male dominated jobs, 88% male in construction, 70% in manufacturing. We keep talking about those jobs disappearing. But education, health services, we've talked about nursing, government services, those are all female dominated professions, retail same thing. So, what's happening is the type of jobs we are seeing gained, women are dominant in. The type of jobs we are seeing lost, men are dominant in. It's an interesting trend.

HARRIS: What about this gender gap when it comes to pay? Does that figure into this at all?

VELSHI: Well, you know, in this case we are really finding jobs, I told you nursing, for instance, where women who have retired from nursing are coming back into the job because only 10% of nurses are men. Men are not gravitating toward that each though it is a growing field. But bottom line is on average, we are still seeing women getting paid less than men are for the same job. That gender gap is not actually decreasing. That is a bit of a problem. It happens to be that there are more jobs growing for women.

HARRIS: Got you. All right. There he is "Minding Your Business" this morning, Ali Velshi in New York. Great to see you. VELSHI: Thank you.

HARRIS: Keep watching CNN. Our money team has you covered, whether it is jobs, dead, housing or savings, join us for a special report. We love this show. It is called "ISSUE #1, THE ECONOMY." Finger on the pulse all this week, noon eastern only on CNN.

There's panic across China today because a powerful earthquake has struck, thousands killed, hundreds of children buried at school.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We do have breaking news out of China to tell you about. At least 3,000 people feared dead in an earthquake. That is according to Chinese media, plus almost 900 children believed buried in the rubble of their collapsed school.

Let's get right to CNN Beijing bureau chief, Jaime Florcruz.

Jaime, I'm reading some of the wires that are coming through. What I understand from our CNN reporting is that 80% of the buildings have collapsed in one county right after this quake. What do you know about that?

JAIME FLORCRUZ, BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, that's the problem, Betty. A lot of the casualties are believed to be those who were trapped under the rubbles of collapsed buildings and other structures. The epicenter of the earthquake happens to be in a region which is mountainous but also where houses and buildings are made of flimsy materials, bricks, but also they are not able to sustain such a strong earthquake.

So the fear is that this 3,000 official count could still rise to as many as 5,000 according to the official news agency. And another fear is that any after shock could further shake the already wobbly structures and buildings and could cause more deaths.

Betty?

NGUYEN: When it comes to the rescue efforts right now, it seems like there's a lot of hard-hit areas, a lot of people trapped under rubble, are there enough emergency responders to try and get to these folks, what's being done?

FLORCRUZ: Well, the rescue operation is under way. The Chinese prime minister himself had flown to the epicenter area. The Chinese soldiers, the People's Liberation Army soldiers are leading the rescue operations. They are a very disciplined outfit and they can move very quickly. The Chinese government is also quite well equipped and organized to respond to natural disasters like this. So, 5,000 tents are already on their way. Food and water are also being prepared. Medical and rescue teams are making their way there. But many of them will have to be done by hand to wade through the rubbles and retrieve the bodies or at least the people who are still trapped in this collapsed structures.

Betty?

NGUYEN: We are looking at the number at the bottom of the screen. This was a 7.8 magnitude quake, a powerful earthquake. How far away was it felt? Because I understand where you are you felt some of it.

FLORCRUZ: We did feel the earthquake a few hours ago. I was in the office and I saw our shades shaking and for about a minute or so, we felt like we were in this ship. We are about 900 miles away from the epicenter, so you can only imagine how bad it must have been to be in the epicenter and that's why the death toll is rising as we speak.

Betty?

NGUYEN: No doubt. And an effort is under way to try to rescue as many people as possible. Wire reports according to CNN also show 10,000 people are believed to be injured in this. We will continue to watch the numbers for our viewers today. Thank you, Jamie, we do appreciate it.

HARRIS: Hepatitis C health officials worried about an outbreak linked to the reuse of syringes. Elizabeth Cohen with what you need to know.

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NGUYEN: Now to news about your health today. Because in Las Vegas, listen to this, more than 77 people have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Health officials say they were all patients at the same clinic where infections were linked to the reuse of syringes earlier this year.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain exactly how did this happen.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Betty, you think when you go to a doctor's office that they use a syringe on you that you are the first person, that it is brand new. But as Roy Insco found out it's not always true.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Roy is Googling how long he has to live. He has Hepatitis C. He's one of thousands of people who got a colonoscopy at a Las Vegas clinic in this medical building. Nevada officials closed it down when they found that syringes at the clinic were being used over and over again, infecting people with Hepatitis C. Repeated calls and e-mails to the attorney of the clinic's owner were not returned.

ROY INSCO, DIAGNOSED WITH HEPATITIS C: I do this about six times a day.

COHEN: Now Insco suffers from stomach problems, he's lost weight and may eventually need a liver transplant.

INSCO: The more I read, of course, the more shocked and dismayed I became because it doesn't seem that there's any cure whatsoever.

COHEN: Insco was more surprised to find out that he's not alone. In the United States, there have been 14 documented outbreaks of Hepatitis C since 1999 involving dozens of patients. Among them 42 patients in one New York City outbreak, 102 cases in Oklahoma, 99 in Nebraska.

It all comes down to this, the syringe. Let's say you are at the doctor's office and the patient before you has hepatitis. When they give that patient a shot, microscopic amounts of tainted blood can seep back into the syringe. If they go and use it on you, you could get hepatitis even if they snap off the needle and put on a new one.

INSCO: There's not a law against that. That's shocking to me.

COHEN: It's a story Evelyn McKnight knows all too well.

EVELYN MCKNIGHT, CONCERNS OVER SYRINGE REUSE: We really need to start learning these lessons.

COHEN: McKnight was treated at a Nebraska clinic for breast cancer eight years ago. Health officials shut the clinic down after determining that syringes were used over and over again. While McKnight's cancer is remission, she now has Hepatitis C.

MCKNIGHT: It's like having the flu all day, every day your life.

COHEN: McKnight is petitioning congress for stricter legislation. One patient, one needle and one syringe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: McKnight and others in Nebraska sued. While the insurance company that belonged to the clinic denied liability, they did settle out of court.

NGUYEN: This is an outrage story. What do you do to protect yourself? How do you make sure that that syringe has never been used before?

COHEN: You can never protect yourself 100%. But to decrease the odds, you can do what I did, they came with me with a syringe that was not wrapped in plastic.

NGUYEN: Does that guarantee it though?

COHEN: If it's totally wrapped up and you see them opening, it is pretty safe. I said to them, I know I sound paranoid, but there are news reports of people who had syringes reused on them, I said this brand spanking new. They said yes. They could have lied to me. But you decrease the odds.

NGUYEN: You could ask them to show you.

COHEN: Yes, you could. CNN.com/empowerpatient is all there on how to avoid infections.

NGUYEN: Good information, thank you, we appreciate it, Elizabeth.

HARRIS: Once again, our breaking news story this morning, a powerful earthquake rocks central China. 3,000 people feared dead, that according to Chinese media. On the line with us right now is Joan Uht. She is an American tourist. She is in Chongqing which is the epicenter of this massive 7.8 earthquake.

Joan, good to talk to you. Thank you for your time. If you could, describe for us what you felt and then what you have been able to witness, what you have been able to see with our own eyes.

JOAN UHT, AMERICAN TOURIST NEAR QUAKE EPICENTER: OK. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon here in Chongqing, I was in a private dwelling, visiting friends. I was with another American friend and we were visiting friends. All of a sudden, we were just about to have tea, all of a sudden the terrible shaking, violent shaking happened. You could hear the glasses rattling in the cabinet. And we didn't know what to do. We managed to get over to the doorway. And held on to it because it was really very strong and then went into a powder room that didn't have glass windows in it. And had to hold on to that. Hold on to the counter, hold on to the walls. And it kept on shaking and shaking. I can't tell you how many minutes, but it was a long time.

HARRIS: Did it feel like more than a minute?

UHT: Oh, absolutely. I lived in Tokyo for one year and I've had earthquakes happen while I lived there. But never anything like this. It was really, truly frightening.

HARRIS: Joan, it may sound like a silly question, particularly since you've experienced this before but did you know immediately once the shaking began that this was in fact an earthquake?

UHT: Absolutely. No doubt about it.

HARRIS: What did you do then? You tried to find a safe space.

UHT: Yes.

HARRIS: It doesn't sound as though you were able to find something that felt suitable to you. So what did you do then?

UHT: You couldn't walk around that much because it was shaking so badly. We were on the first floor of the building. And apparently it was worse up on the upper floors. But on this floor, I didn't hear things crashing on the floor or anything like that. I saw them shaking like crazy. But nothing fell off inn my view.

HARRIS: How concerned were you about the possibility of a collapse from the upper floors?

UHT: Well, we didn't know what was happening there. We were terrified. Just knew that this terrible shaking was going. Of course, I knew that that could happen. But I didn't hear any crashing. And I couldn't see outside because I was inside this closed area in the house. And when it stopped, looked out and it did -- did not see fallen trees or anything like that. Everybody running out of the houses. And we stayed in the house, not knowing what to do. We were afraid of things flying around outside. But the maid came back from a shopping trip and rolled up on her bike looking scared to death because she had been in a supermarket.