Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Thousands Trapped in Chinese Earthquake; Small Oklahoma Town Reels from Tornado Aftermath; Converting Oil to Gas a Solution to Crisis?
Aired May 13, 2008 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: "We will save the people." That is a promise from the premiere of China as thousands of soldiers finally reach ground zero of yesterday's earthquakes. Many survivors are being rescued, but many thousands are dead. Many other thousands are trapped.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And here at home tornado survivors in the southern plains brace for more wicked storms even while the feds try to survey the damage from the weekend. We are live in Oklahoma.
Hi, there. I'm Brianna Keilar at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
HOLMES: And hello everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes at our international desk here in the NEWSROOM, where China is not the only major international story being covered. We have Myanmar to talk about. India, as well. You will see it all right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Rescues in China are taking place. That is the good news, but there is just a precious few of those rescues that are taking place. The deaths and potential deaths at this point seem like just too many to count.
A day now after a monumental earthquake, thousands are dead. Thousands more believed to be buried under rubble. And millions are homeless right now. They're hungry, and they are just desperate for help that is on the way, but having a tough time getting that help to those people.
Want to go now to Hong Kong and CNN's Kyung Lah that has the very latest on the efforts there.
Again, Kyung Lah, it's just happening so slowly right now for many different reasons.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For a lot of different reasons.
The weather, the terrain and the numbers, T.J., are incredibly stark. Twelve thousand, more than 12,000 people are dead so far, according to China's government. Some 26,000 are injured. And these numbers are only expected to climb as rescuers reach the epicenter. Information very slow coming out of that area. But I want to quickly, actually, go to some video that was taken by Japanese television station at the Chengdu airport as the quake was happening. You can see some of the rattling on camera. You can hear how violent it is. You can hear people screaming, people running through the airport in fear. And then shortly afterwards, they're standing outside, certainly, appearing to be stunned.
Ever since that video, though, this country has been struggling to try to recover.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG (voice-over): This sort of grief was unimaginable just a day ago. So many children from Chulan (ph) middle school lost. Their parents gathered here waiting, mourning.
An occasional victory breaks the sorrow. A child pulled from what was the three-story school, now reduced to rubble. As rescuers desperately fought the rain and used whatever they could to dig out the children, parents huddled under tents, holding vigil, waiting.
So far reports of dozens dead, according to state-run media. About 900 students were in the building when the 7.9 magnitude quake struck in the middle of the school day.
China's premier, Wen Jiabao, visited the school, promising more help was coming, a sentiment echoed by his government, which said its biggest battle wasn't response. Roads are littered with debris or lie completely buckled, forcing aid to travel along dangerous terrain by foot in rainy weather.
WANG ZHENYAO, MINISTRY OF CIVIL AFFAIRS (through translator): The roads there are still not in good condition and are still not very well accessible.
KYUNG: It's reported that the government has sent thousands of troops to the area, and thousands more are on the way. But the need is intense and widespread across the Sichuan province.
Chinese media report beyond the thousands dead, thousands remain buried under rubble. The picture of the devastation yet to fully unfold. The understanding of the enormity of the human suffering still to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG: It's the epicenter where we're waiting to hear more information about rescuers still trying to make it onto that area by foot. There are several thousands of them who are already there. But again, more are on the way. Again, trying to make it in on foot. There was some word that perhaps they might parachute in, because it was such a difficult area to get to. But those plans had to be scrapped because of weather -- T.J.
HOLMES: And can you give us an update, as well? Certainly a part of this story that jumped out at people when it happened, so much tragedy around. But hearing about those children, hundreds of children who were trapped in schools around -- around China. What is, I guess, the latest, the update and the efforts like there? And also for the parents who are waiting for word about their kids?
KYUNG: Well, it's just a very stark scene. At that particular school that we showed you video of, that's just one of about half a dozen schools that we're hearing about where this scene is being played out again and again.
Parents are sitting there in the rain, in tents, waiting to find out if their children have actually survived. Some of these children have been pulled out of the rubble, but many who have been pulled out have not survived. And then these parents are forced to walk by these bodies and try to identify their children. It is just an incredibly sad scene all around this area.
HOLMES: That is unimaginable. Kyung Lah for us in Hong Kong.
We do appreciate you and your updates on this story.
We want to turn now to someone who is still there in China about 60 miles from the epicenter, in Chengdu. This is David Jones, actually a teacher there, teaching English in China.
Sir, thank you for giving us some time. I understand you were on your bike when the earthquake hit. Tell me where you were, what was happening and what that was like?
DAVID JONES, EARTHQUAKE WITNESS: Yes. I was on my bike north of the city Chengdu outside in a little town. We were riding down but a rather bumpy road. But the first indication we had was people just running in panic. There was just -- all of a sudden, the street erupted with people. And I was actually knocked off my bike. Getting back on my bike, I looked up and I saw a building coming down right to the right of me.
HOLMES: You were knocked off your bike by the force of that earthquake?
JONES: The earthquake and the people. It was all -- everything at one time. Yes, it was very powerful.
HOLMES: Well, sir, tell me what it's like now. We heard about the initial panic, people flooding into the streets. Is there still, I mean, I guess if you can -- how much you can calm down after something like this? But are people still panicked? Is there -- what's the scene for us there on the streets?
JONES: Well, right now in the city of Chengdu it's pretty quiet. People have -- a lot of people have returned to their houses. Last night nobody would go home. It was just amazing. There were so many people on the streets all night long.
The weather here is terrible. I think that's forced a lot of people back in. But every time there's an aftershock you hearing screaming and you hear a lot of noise down below in the streets. And there's been a lot of aftershocks today.
HOLMES: How would you describe the frequency and intensity of those aftershocks?
JONES: Some of -- the frequency's been probably every couple of hours. Intensity is varied. There was one early this morning that was very strong. One about 3:00 p.m. this the afternoon here that was extremely strong. I was actually wondering if it was another major earthquake hitting.
HOLMES: Have you had to, I guess, help out yourself? Do you see people around helping each other out there in Chengdu?
JONES: Yes. Everybody here has been very, very good. We -- we went today to go and donate blood. There's long lines for that.
We wanted to make an attempt to get back to the village I was in yesterday, but we went up there and police asked us not to come in.
The people here have been really, really helpful to each other. The shop owners have been very helpful, making sure everybody has supplies. I haven't seen any price gauging. The mood here has gone from shock, fear, shock to tiredness. Out on the streets today, everybody was extremely tired.
HOLMES: And sir, what is your plan? Are you afraid to go back into your building, wherever you may be staying? Or do you have some of that fear, as well? It's certainly understandable after what everybody just went through.
JONES: I'm in my building now. What can you do? I'm in a fairly new complex. I think it's fairly safe here. I do have a lot of cracking in my walls. This area did survive pretty well.
HOLMES: All right. David Jones, a teacher there teaching English there in China who went through it all.
Sir, we appreciate you giving us some time. Thank you so much, and good luck to you and all the others there.
JONES: Yes. Thank you very much.
HOLMES: And we do want our viewers to know we are watching and getting information as much as we can in on this story. We are watching a lot of pictures like the ones you're seeing here from China TV and other regional networks, day in, day out, for more of the devastation and rescue efforts.
All the while we have our own correspondents, are going to bring us live reports across the quake region. We have some 25 correspondents out in the field covering the recent disasters in China; also in Myanmar. We're getting those resources using our bureaus in Beijing, also the bureau in Hong Kong. So please know, we are coordinating our people.
A lot of that coordination is happening in this area where I am now, again, our international desk. Keeping an eye on everything around the world. But certainly three of the major stories, China, Myanmar and also what we've seen happen in India today, which we'll be talking about a little later. A blast that happened there that has killed several.
And also seeing all of these stories and all of this devastation, a lot of you out there, our viewers, certainly want to help. And there's a way you can do that. And we can help you do that. You can go to CNN.com at "Impact Your World." And that's your chance to really make an impact on the world. And you can let us be your guide. We can shuffle you through things on our Web site, direct to you several legitimate news agencies. So we will -- we will certainly try to help out in that regard -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Well, T.J., this is exactly what some people do not need. Some areas hit by deadly tornadoes over the weekend, seeing more storms barrel their way.
Chad Myers tracking everything, of course, in the weather center. Chad, we're talking about some people who are just getting those blue tarps put on the roofs?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. And they're going to get blown off tonight. And the problem is, even if it was just wind, wind and rain, you just can't handle it, because it literally is just a blue tarp.
But the problem is these -- some of these storms are going to come through late tonight after dark. Those are the hardest ones to see. The storm spotters don't see them well. The warnings are late on them or later. Probably five to ten minutes later, because you just can't get a feel for it if it's on the ground in some spots.
But the storms you're seeing now on the radar are not that impressive. They're from St. Louis. A little bit of hail. Also, New London, Missouri. You have a spinning storm to your west. But it's not putting down a tornado right now.
And the irony is where the rain showers are now, all the way from St. Louis back down to Memphis and Dallas, that's not where the weather is going to actually erupt tonight. It's going to be Kansas City, Wichita, Oklahoma City back down to Dallas west of where we are now, because the sun is out there now. And a very strong storm is coming out of the Rockies. Strong enough to actually produce snow.
Yes, it's snowing in Colorado, and it is snowing in Arizona. Snow near Flagstaff, Arizona, last night. Yes. You're saying how can that be? Well, it's a cold air mass. It's been a cold winter. It's been a cold April. There's a lot of snow on the ground. Ask all the ski resorts have picked up record snow amounts all season long.
Well, it's still snowing there now. Snowing out in Vail, snowing in the higher elevations. And it is going to be a cold day. That cold air is going to punch into this warm air and make tornadoes -- Brianna.
KEILAR: All right. Chad keeping an eye on that for us. Thanks very much.
And in northern Oklahoma, where we turn our attention now, they are watching the skies warily. The town of Picher, as you'll recall, lost several people to Saturday's killer storm. And all that is left of some sections, huge piles of debris like this one.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is there with more on how residents are coping.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four days after the town of Picher in Oklahoma was hit hard by a tornado, residents here are now having to worry about the possibility of more tornadoes coming their way.
Paul Sharbutt, you live in this house. Your home was destroyed. Now you hear another bad storm could be headed this way. What do you say to yourself?
PAUL SHARBUTT, PICHER RESIDENT: I just hope it don't. And you know, we've lived here for quite a few years. And we've lived in -- I've lived in Picher all my life. And I'm hoping that even the rain and everything will just hold off until we can -- more people have stuff they need to get out of here. And just -- I'm lost for words, really.
CANDIOTTI: You're worried about it.
SHARBUTT: And I'm worried about it.
CANDIOTTI: Can you walk this way a second here? As we look over here at the damage, and now you have another place to live temporarily.
SHARBUTT: Yes.
CANDIOTTI: You're still waiting for word from the government about how they will be able to help you. And as we swing over in this direction, we see that director of the Department of Homeland Security director is going to be telling you, and FEMA is going to tell you that they're going to help you.
Do you think that they will be able to come through for you, given all the delays in buying out your house from the environmental cleanup that has been going on here for years?
SHARBUTT: Well, I really don't at this point in time. I -- you know, they've been working on this for several years. And I just really don't -- I don't feel like they will. And I hope they do. Not only me, but all of my friends and families that lives in this town. We deserve to be help here in Picher, Oklahoma.
CANDIOTTI: Thank you very much. Paul Sharbutt.
So this is a town that is struggling to move on after this old tornado hit them, in hopes that another one won't be coming their way.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Picher, Oklahoma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We will turn back to the relief efforts in China right now after an earthquake. What you're looking at here is a live picture of Chinese state-run television. We'll take a listen to that report right now about relief.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): ... which was heaped (ph) by the earthquake. Meanwhile, two army planes have begun a surveillance mission in the worst-hit areas, offering the first up- close look at the damaged areas near the quake's epicenter.
Yah Shishen (ph), CCTV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, telecommunications in five counties of Jiangsu (ph) province have recovered. The situation in Sichuan is also returning to normal.
Communication signals in other administrative regions above the county level are improving. Monday's earthquake cut telephone and Internet links in affected parts of (INAUDIBLE). Also hit were alternative route or fiber optic cables in some areas.
The blackout extended to China mobile services in affected areas in Sichuan, Jiangsu (ph), and Jiangxi provinces. Service is now erratic because the number of calls from China's major telecom network to Sichuan has increased sharply.
HOLMES: All right. Again, what you're listening there -- don't want you to be confused by it -- that is Chinese state-run television. Again, Chinese state-run television.
And you heard the anchor there speak on things there getting back to normal, if you will, in the Sichuan province, which is where so many have been killed. So many more are missing. Again, in the numbers of tens of thousands.
A lot of people reporting on this story from U.S. and western and independent news agencies would not agree with that assessment from what's going on on the ground. So just wanted to explain to you what you are seeing and hearing. Again, state-run television there in China, reporting on the relief efforts, but those relief efforts certainly do continue right now.
The official word is that at least 12,000 people have been confirmed dead. And many tens of thousands were feared trapped and also, certainly, in trouble and feared dead, as well.
But we will be all over that story the rest of the afternoon.
Also we'll hear from one of our I-Reporters, an American who survived Monday's huge earthquake who was near the quake's epicenter. That's coming up. KEILAR: Turning coal into gasoline. Is it a good way to beat America's dependence on foreign oil? We'll find out what's involved.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Crews in Brevard County, Florida, are finally making headway against huge wildfires. Lighter winds have helped a bit here, but firefighters are still dealing with flare-ups in the Palm Bay area, even as damage assessment teams head out to have a look.
Authorities estimate about 100 homes are damaged or destroyed. And they think this could be arson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF BILL BERGER, PALM BAY, FLORIDA, POLICE: I think at one time we said there were nine, simultaneously, fires. So that's telling. Some is caused by embers that are flying, but the locations of the fires indicated that these were initiated separately, which makes us firmly believe that an individual or individuals was involved in setting those.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A $10,000 reward is being offered for information that will help arrest or convict any arsonists. Police say they've already gotten a lot of tips.
Also, we expect to hear a short time from now from the Florida governor, Charlie Crist. As you see there, they're all set up for this press conference. It was supposed to get underway at the top of the hour, but a little behind here. We do expect it any time.
Now, of course, the governor declared a state of emergency there in Florida yesterday. When he steps up to the microphone, we'll try to get back to him live.
KEILAR: Have you ever thought about using coal to fuel your ride? Well, the U.S. is actually sitting on 268 billion tons of it. That is about a 250-year supply at the rate we're using it. It's messy, but coal can be converted to gasoline. And our Ali Velshi joining us now from New York to fill us in.
A 250-year supply, Ali. I mean, that is -- that's pretty seductive when you think of being self-sufficient with -- with fuel or with gasoline. But any environmentalist will tell you that that thing in your hand right there is a pollutant. no matter how you look at it. What's the truth here?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I thought you were never going to get to the thing in my hand. "What I wanted you to say was, what is in your hand? Is that coal?"
KEILAR: What are you hanging onto?
VELSHI: I live for the props. Like, you just got to -- you got to give me the joy.
OK. So this is a lump of coal. And you're absolutely right. Most people think of coal as a relatively dirty thing. You may have seen the ads on TV for 99.9 percent clean coal. That's clean coal technology. But bottom line is people are split on the cleanliness of coal.
What everybody may not realize, however, is about half the energy, the electricity that we use in the United States is generated by coal. And it is a tried and true technology to make coal into gasoline. Let me show you how it works.
You take the coal and you make it and you process it into this waxy, crude oil-like thing, which then gets refined into gasoline. Now, the gasoline that you refine out of coal actually, it goes onto any gas pump, just like any car. You don't have to have your car specially modified. It's just like gas. In South Africa they use it at gas stations.
It is cleaner, in fact, than the gasoline we currently use. It's not cleaner to make it from coal into gasoline, but it is cleaner to actually burn. There's less exhaust.
Now, as you say, there are disadvantages to this whole operation. Those are the advantages you're looking at. The disadvantages, is that the process releases a lot of CO2. And that's what people are sort of complaining about: how do you capture that and make sure it doesn't get into the environment?
Problem No. 2 is that, like using corn to make ethanol, increased demand manned for coal could drive up coal prices. We've already seen coal prices double recently because of the demand for it.
And issue No. 3 is it's going to take some time to implement this. You have to build factories. You have to get the infrastructure in place to do that.
So it's -- it's a very interesting concept to think about. But we have to do the due diligence to make sure that we don't end up making the entire country pay a lot more for electricity, because we use coal for gasoline.
KEILAR: Good look at the pros and cons there. And show us your coal prop again there, Ali.
VELSHI: Love it.
KEILAR: We need to give it its due time. I apologize for not...
VELSHI: If I squeeze it, I might be able to make a diamond if this -- if this report is long enough.
KEILAR: If you work out enough, maybe. I don't know.
HOLMES: Ooh!
KEILAR: OK. But the question is, of course -- sorry. OK, the question, though, is would it really make the price of gas cheaper?
VELSHI: You know, we spoke to the CEO of the company that does this in South Africa. And they've been talking to a number of states here about doing it. Their point is that what it does is it broadens the base from which you can get fuel.
But the decrease in the price of gasoline would be almost insignificant. It would be a matter of cents, at least in the early days, until it became a bigger deal. And given that we increased the price of gasoline in the last month more than a cent a day, you're not going to feel it as a decrease in the price. You're simply going to have another source for gasoline, as opposed to crude oil.
KEILAR: All good stuff to know. And I apologize. I did not mean to insinuate that you do not work out, Ali.
VELSHI: In fact, this is my last report for the day. I've got to get to the gym.
KEILAR: All right.
VELSHI: I'm going to bulk up. You think this body is just natural?
KEILAR: No, I don't.
HOLMES: We hope not, Ali.
KEILAR: All right. Ali Velshi for us in New York. Thank you.
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. I'll call you shortly, Ali.
Well, her critics say she doesn't stand a chance. But Hillary Clinton is fighting on. And today she's hoping for a huge win in West Virginia. We'll have a live report from that state.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. This gas price situation is officially out of hand. Gas prices so high now that some gas pumps can't even register the price.
Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, we are now in the twilight zone when it comes to these gas prices.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are, especially with this story. Because we're talking, T.J., about the old mechanical pumps. A lot of us still remember them, before the digital pumps came into existence. You know, they are a throwback to another era, both the pumps and the price.
The problem is they really can't register them. And there's a lot of them in existence, about 5 percent of the nation's supplies or about 17,000 of them, mostly in rural America. When those pumps were made way back when, $4 a gas -- $4 a gallon gas just wasn't -- well, that was really in the twilight zone. So a lot of them only go up to $3.99 per gallon, no higher, which is a real problem in parts of the U.S. where there are these little mom and pop stores.
The North Dakota Petroleum Marketers' Association tells us it costs about $15,000 to $20,000 to replace the old pumps. So what some of them are doing, T.J., is splitting the price in half and then doubling it at the end. So you really get sticker shock.
HOLMES: OK. Well, you now what? I've given this a lot of thought, Susan. And I've got a way we can solve this problem.
LISOVICZ: Tell me.
HOLMES: I can solve this.
LISOVICZ: Tell America.
HOLMES: Bring down the price of gas. Won't have a problem.
LISOVICZ: Yes. Hey, from your lips to OPEC's ears.
HOLMES: Yes.
LISOVICZ: Well, yes. I mean, slowing economy may do that ultimately. Conserving may do that. Congress is doing what it thinks is its part. The Senate voted overwhelmingly this afternoon, 97 to 1, to temporarily stop President Bush from putting any more oil in the nation's strategic oil program.
Now, there are a lot of critics who say, yes, it might bring down gas prices by four or five cents a gallon. It's really not going to be that much of a difference over the long term, and in fact, it may actually make the problem worse.
President Bush, by the way, is against the program. You know, the reason why we have the Strategic Oil Preserve -- Reserves is to cushion the blow of any disruptions. And we've had a lot of disruptions.
And let me tell you about one today. That is the weak dollar. So I'm looking at crude oil prices right now, and they're trading above $2. They came down about two bucks yesterday. Right now at $126.24, getting within pennies of $127 a barrel.
Stocks going in the opposite direction. Right now the Dow is down 74 points. The NASDAQ down about five.
Hewlett-Packard, one of the big movers for the Dow 30, down 6 percent. Paying nearly $14 billion -- with a "B" -- to buy computer services company EDS.
Coming up in the next hour -- listen up, T.J. -- we're going to talk about prices, rising prices at the pump. It's a different kind of pump. Ladies favor this kind of pump, and it's painful. That is the shoe and the price. We'll have that in the next hour.
HOLMES: Oh, my. Goodness gracious. OK.
LISOVICZ: It's an inflation nation. What can I say?
HOLMES: All right. Susan Lisovicz, we will look forward to seeing you again soon.
LISOVICZ: You've got it.
KEILAR: We have been getting one devastating image after another in the wake of the quake in China, thanks to our CNN I-Reporters. We're going to be talking to one of them this hour.
HOLMES: Also, the West Virginia primary. Hillary Clinton is expecting a big win there today. But does it really matter? We'll take a closer look at West Virginia's importance in past elections.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Here in the CNN NEWSROOM are three of the stories we are working on. The death toll keeps on rising in central China one day after a massive earthquake. The state-run news agency says more than 12,000 people were killed in one city alone. Thousands more appeared buried in the rubble which rescue teams are desperately combing through.
More U.S. relief supplies arrived in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, but the military rulers are not letting foreign aid workers take them to where they are desperately needed. A top U.S. military official describes one of those rulers as showing less than very serious concern.
Also people in Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas are bracing for more severe weather after a string of deadly tornados. Another round of storms is heading their way, storms that could spawn more funnel clouds.
KEILAR: Back now down to our top story, a desperate search for survivors going on in China as we speak. So far workers are finding more bodies in the rubble from yesterday's catastrophic earthquake. China's state-run news agency says more than 12,000 people, 12,000 people are dead and that is in one province alone. More than 18,000 are said to be trapped in rubble in a single city. Thousands more are reported dead or buried elsewhere, including children trapped in collapsed schools.
Rescue teams have finally reached the quake's epicenter. The Chinese military says more than 1,000 people have been pulled from the rubble so far. Their conditions at this point are not known. Our CNN I-reporters have been really documenting the devastation, giving us some of the best perspective that we can get there on the ground.
Ben Geisler is an American living in Chengdu. This is south of the quake's epicenter. Ben is on the phone right now with us.
Sir, just tell me what you have seen and what you are seeing right now.
VOICE OF BEN GEISLER, EARTHQUAKE EYEWITNESS: Well, to be honest, I'm just glad to be here. The quake, as you know, happened about 2:30 yesterday. Everything was shaking solidly for several minutes. At about the time that it stopped, everyone came out of the buildings. As you may or may not know, Chengdu is a very vertical city, very tall buildings. People are (INAUDIBLE) the streets are literally turned into rivers of people. There are cars speeding, trying to get out of the city, the people trying to avoid those (INAUDIBLE) those miscellaneous pools are blood.
KEILAR: And Ben, we just saw a photo of what appeared to be people kind of camping out on a field. Why are people sleeping outside and are you sleeping outside?
GEISLER: I spent my first night last night in a barn (INAUDIBLE) was closed by the police. They're trying to keep buildings closed where the owners can't guarantee the safety of the people inside. People here are camping out.
They're camping out on any available open space that isn't near anything tall. They are camping out on the river banks. They camping out inside the campuses. People with cars have either left or parked their cars in, for example, inside the soccer stadium. People are doing everything they can to stay outside and in a lot of cases can't return to their buildings. There is some rolling power outages.
KEILAR: Let me ask you. You were on the 17th floor of an office building at the time when this quake struck. What was that like?
GEISLER: At first, my first impression was that there was some kind of construction, something going on beneath me. And then as it intensified, I realized this was an earthquake. This wasn't something small. At that point I told my fellow workers get into a doorway, get away from glass. Get somewhere safe. The building started moving.
It wasn't a back and forth like you would expect. It was like a bottle cap being twisted on and off. It was almost turning. At one point, maybe a minute, one-and-a-half minutes into the quake, I thought to myself, if this doesn't stop, this building is coming down. I am leaning against a wall. I can feel the wall material cracking under my fingers and the sound is just this enormous grinding sound coming out of the ground.
As soon as the quake stopped, as soon as things stopped moving, I told everyone get anything that you have to have and go. They ran for the stairs. Obviously the 17th floor, that's 34 flights of stairs. Some of them are out of power. People are sprinting through the dark to get the bottom. In buildings nearby there were reports of people jumping out their windows to get away from the quake and when you hit the street it was just confusion.
There's people everywhere. The phone system is down. Text messaging is down. Electricity is down. Water is down. There is just noise from all over the city. It's unlike anything you ever heard.
KEILAR: Well, Ben, it is no wonder considering what you are describing going through in that building that people are fearful to sleep tonight and last night inside of those buildings.
Ben Geisler, who has been sending us some of his photos from Chengdu, China. Thank you so much for being with us.
GEISLER: Of course. Thank you.
HOLMES: OK. It's a small state. It's late in the game, but Hillary Clinton sure appreciates West Virginia right about now because it will quite likely give her something she hasn't had in quite a while, a reason to smile.
CNN's Sean Callebs is spending primary election day in Kanawha City, make sure I'm saying that right. I know you're from West Virginia so you can correct me if I'm not saying that right.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., gold star coming your way.
HOLMES: Thank you kind sir.
Well, tell us, are you seeing a steady stream? I assume it might be the polling place, but what's it been like around some of the polling places today? And is the economy the big thing on people's mind?
CALLEBS: This is Chamberlain elementary school and there has been a steady stream of people coming in and out of the doors here. We've talked to the state authorities here. They say that basically the turnout is about average. It's kind of interesting because the number of people who voted early set a state record, 76,000 people and you are exactly right. The economy is the issue that is really bringing people out to the polls.
When we talk to them specifically about it, people are very, very frustrated with having to pay at least $3.85 for a gallon of gasoline here in West Virginia. That is significantly above the national average. Want to introduce you to a few voters. Take a look here. We have all the generations covered here in West Virginia. I want to start over here with Ann Lancaster. You have your mother with you Mary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eighty-seven.
CALLEBS: Eighty-seven-years-old. This is your first election? I'm just joking. What are some of the issues that brought you out today?
ANN LANCASTER, VOTER: As I mentioned to my mother, I am really worried about the economy, the loss of jobs.
CALLEBS: And the coal industry is important to you.
LANCASTER: The coal industry is. It's a lot for a lot of people. It's just everything to them. You have to get a happy medium between coal mining and mountain top renewal. You got to renew it. It does and of course it's pollution streams and so forth. CALLEBS: Let me ask you because Barack Obama is expected to lose here by a significant margin. I've had a number of people since I was raised here say is West Virginia the kind of state that won't vote for an African-American. Do you find that to be the case?
LANCASTER: I hope not. I would be ashamed of them if they were. Definitely I did vote for Obama. I think he impresses me more and I think he is out for a change. There's never been a real change.
CALLEBS: It's exciting time in West Virginia having its place in the landscape right now.
LANCASTER: Yes, it is. Yes it is.
CALLEBS: Ann and Mary, thanks very much for joining us out here today. We greatly appreciate it. And I want to introduce you to Gianna Fioravanta. What a great name. You don't see that much (INAUDIBLE)
GIANNA FIORAVANTE, VOTER: No you really don't.
CALLEBS: What brought you out today?
FIORAVANTE: I'm in from college. I'm a junior at West Virginia University and the gas price is the most because I travel back and forth to here and back. And also for Hillary Clinton because it will be the first president I voted for in a primary or in the direct election. Hopefully she wins. It's important to me to have a woman in the White House because that is my future that I see up there.
CALLEBS: Your second election Gianna. Thank you very much. I appreciate the time.
A lot of issues bringing people out here today, but when you cut down the numbers, the one that stands out, the 28 delegates T.J. but also we know that Hillary Clinton is looking closely at the popular vote. If she can win by 35, 40 percent, she may be able to chip away at the significant lead Barack Obama has in the popular vote and maybe give her campaign more steam to move ahead on into Kentucky and who knows after that -- T.J.?
HOLMES: Exactly, who knows? Been a lot of who knows in this race. Sean Callebs there in his home state of West Virginia.
We appreciate you. We'll be checking in again with you later.
Clinton says if she does win and win big in West Virginia, party leaders should sit up and take notice. Is she right?
Our chief national correspondent John Kings breaks this down for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She says, watch how I do tonight. I am going to win tonight and I'm going to win big up in here, along white, rural, small city West Virginia and she says I'm going to win down here big. Why does that matter?
Senator Clinton would make the case, go back to 1992. My husband Bill won the presidency. He is the blue right here. He carried West Virginia, some Republican pockets, but if you look at this state, Bill Clinton did very well. That is 1992, a Democratic White House as a result of that election and she will say, look what happens in 2000. That's red is George W. Bush. He took West Virginia away.
Had Al Gore won that state, he would have been president of the United States. George Bush wins reelection, again, the state is all red. Some will say it's just West Virginia and Hillary Clinton will say no it isn't, actually. Come over here and look at Ohio. This is the Bush victory in 2004. This is Senator Clinton in the Democratic primaries. Come next door to Pennsylvania.
Democrats had held this state in recent presidential elections. Hillary Clinton says it is at risk if Barack Obama has this flaw and cannot win white working class voters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And you get all the latest campaign news at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com. We also have analysis from the best political team on television. It's all there, CNNPolitics.com.
KEILAR: No clean water, no sanitation, no shelter, dead bodies everywhere, mosquitoes. The perfect storm is brewing in Myanmar for an epidemic of death all while their government tells the world, we'll get back to you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: They survived the cyclone, but they may not survive a perfect storm of disease and government inaction. Nearly two million people in Myanmar face grim circumstances. They can't get clean water, decent food, a clean place to stay or medical care. They also can't get seem to get their military government to care.
The commander of the U.S. Pacific command has been meeting with junta leaders urging them to let the world in to do the heavy lifting and get the supplies to people who need them. Three U.S. plane loads of relief are already in the country, but the government's attitude was really along the lines of, don't call us, we'll call you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF ADM. TIM KEATING, CMDR., US PACIFIC COMMAND: The Burmese were cordial. They acknowledged our offers of assistance, but we got no firm decisions from them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And Elizabeth Cohen, medical correspondent here at CNN joining me now, aid flights finally being allowed in. What are these flights bringing? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. flights are bringing mosquito netting. They're bringing water, blankets, plastic sheeting. But here's the big question. Is all this reaching the people? Because there are reports, unnamed sources from the Associated Press that these biscuits, these high-energy biscuits are ending up in military warehouses instead of with the people who need them.
There are reports from CARE, the relief organization, CARE that rotting rice is being distributed to the people in the worst-hit areas. So that is the big concern. Are the people who need it getting the 70,000 pounds of supplies that the U.S. military has brought in?
KEILAR: Obviously that only makes a bad problem even worse. It's a week and a half out now from when the cyclone hit. What in particular are the health threats that we are looking at?
COHEN: Water-borne illness is the number one concern for the relief workers in this area. They say that there is lots of standing water. So you are talking mosquitoes. You're talking malaria. We're talking contaminated water, water contaminated with human remains, so we're talking cholera. Those are the big, big concerns right now with water-borne disease outbreaks.
KEILAR: Let's switch gears now. We're going to talk about China and the earthquake. Reports today that 1,000 people have been pulled from debris and we've seen things like this, other accidents like this, other tragedies like this. How long can people survive? Sometimes a very long time, right, where they are pulled out of debris?
COHEN: Right, much longer than you might think. If you survive the initial trauma, your first three concerns are oxygen, water and food in that order. So let's take a look at those three. You can't live without oxygen for more than seven to 15 minutes. Obviously that time has passed. You can live without water for five to 10 days and without food for three to six weeks. You could actually live for quite some time if you were uninjured by the debris.
KEILAR: Really it's a matter of continuing to remove the rubble. This is not an operation that ends in a couple of days. It goes on.
COHEN: It goes on.
KEILAR: Elizabeth Cohen, our medical correspondent here at CNN, thanks very much.
T.J., back to you.
HOLMES: Thank you, Brianna.
A fight over a swab. Crime victims and civil libertarians square off expanding DNA bases.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: You still have the right to remain silent, but as of today, if you are arrested in Maryland for a violent crime, your DNA will be sampled and kept on file. Same goes for a dozen of other states. Authorities say it's an invaluable tool for solving crimes. Privacy advocates say it's something else, an outrage.
CNN's Kelli Arena reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Laura Neuman was violently raped at age 18 but it took nearly 20 years to ID her attacker.
LAURA NEUMAN, DNA EXPANSION PROPONENT: I've heard actually the comment that he might be one of the most prolific serial rapists in Maryland history.
ARENA: The man who raped her, Alfonso Hill was arrested at least six times before and six times after attacking Neuman. But police never took a DNA sample until after he pled guilty to raping her. He's also charged with raping six other women which he denies.
NEUMAN: Many of those women would not have been raped and those rapes would not have occurred had he been caught sooner.
ARENA: Neuman helped convince Maryland to pass a law allowing police to take DNA from anyone arrested for a violent crime. Just like fingerprints, right? Not exactly.
CAROLINE FREDERICKSON, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: That is your genetic material that gives clues to your health, any type of genetic marker, your predisposition to disease, family history, what you look like potentially. All sorts of information is in there.
ARENA: The type of information some critics say could be seriously abused. Soon the government will start swabbing anyone picked up on Federal charges, too. Officials insist that safeguards exist to protect the information.
KEVIN O'CONNOR, ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: Anybody who abuses this information or uses it for non-law enforcement purposes such as to look at someone's family history of diabetes, whatever the disease might be, can be prosecuted and will be prosecuted.
ARENA: But putting the genetic genie back in the bottle might not be so easy. States with new DNA laws require police to automatically destroy the DNA if suspects are found not guilty. But to get the Feds to destroy your DNA, you'll have to make a specific request. Not a simple issue. But for Laura Newman, when you weigh the rights of the accused against stopping a serial rapist early, it's case closed.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Annapolis, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE) KEILAR: Call it a sign of the ailing economy, some people are not only down sizing their lifestyles, they are delaying dreams of retiring at least for now. That story in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, folks. Stay with me on this story.
I don't know what kind of relationship Lebron James has with his mother, but I don't have one like this with my mom. Look at that right there. He gets into a little scuffle with an opposing player. That is his mom now involved in the play. Now look at his lips and you can tell exactly what he was saying to his mother. He was telling her to sit her blank down.
Again, Lebron, you've got to improve this relationship. Take a listen to what he had to say after the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: The commissioner doesn't care if this is your mother or your kids or anybody. You can't allow fans and players to get involved with each other. You know, I can't afford for my mom not to be at every last one of my games. I can't afford that. So I told her to sit down in some language I shouldn't have used. You know, thank God today wasn't Mother's Day. It was yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes, he told his mom to sit her blank down at the game. But again, the NBA has the right to kick fans out if they get involved, so he didn't want his mother suspended for some of the games and couldn't attend some of his playoff games, kind of makes sense, but still, come on, Lebron. The series is now tied at two games each.
The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
