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American Morning
Japan Hit by 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake; White House Monitoring Events in Japan and Hawaii on Tsunami Warning; All U.S. Military in Japan Accounted For; Nikkei Falls After Quake
Aired March 11, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Fryer, something else you said -- and it might not -- like you said, it doesn't sound like a lot. When you hear five feet, a five foot wave, you said by the time it gets to Hawaii, you expect that to be a be larger wave and because of the layout of Hawaii essentially, you could expect it to be higher. So you talk about coastal flooding, but what kind of damage -- if we do hear that it doesn't sound like a lot. But what kind of damage can a wave of five feet, six, seven, eight, nine, ten really do?
GERARD FRYER, PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER (via telephone): Well, when a wave that has an amplitude of five feet, if it's only a surfing wave, it doesn't do very much. But if it's a tsunami, which is, say, 10 minutes from one wave to the next, that means it has a tremendous amount of water in it and it can flood inland conceivably, you know, a quarter of a mile or something. And if it comes in with any force, it will pick things up and carry them into other things and you can get damage and all sorts of things happening. So it's a --
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Sorry, we're just getting in some information that I'd like to get your take on. The spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent expressing fears that this tsunami -- the waves from the tsunami could be so high that they would wash over entire islands in the Pacific. What can you do in that case? How can you prepare? And do you know how likely it is?
FRYER: Washing over islands is not going to happen. And, in fact, Carl Ethel (ph)'s tsunami is actually a very small hazard on Carl Ethel because the outer slopes of Carl Ethel (ph) are very, very steep and the tsunami basically doesn't see it. It's when you come to a big volcanic island like Hawaii, then it builds up and you can get very large waves. That's part of the reason why midway is a bit misleading because it's Carl Ethel (ph).
HOLMES: All right, Gerard Fryer on the line with us. Sir, we -- I know you are busy and you are working. We appreciate you giving us some time and some perspective. We will continue to check in with you this morning.
CHETRY: OK. We're going to take a quick break and AMERICAN MORNING, special edition, covering the latest on this earthquake and tsunami. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
HOLMES: A massive earthquake of historic proportions. You're seeing pictures from inside parliament in Japan. And you see the shaking going on. But we have a two-prong disaster. It's not just the massive earthquake that's devastating the country right now.
CHETRY: That's right. These pictures are just astounding when you take a look at what's going on. This massive wall of water pushing everything aside in its path. I mean, look at these cars. You just see them bobbing up and down.
And this is perhaps one of the most dramatic pictures we've had all morning. This is about 60 miles north of Tokyo, northeast in a farming area. And this incredible tsunami wave just rolling through taking everything in its path, farmland flooded for miles dragging along homes, cars and boats. And we have all of this covered this morning. We're getting new details by the minute on this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
Thanks for being with us. It's Friday, March 11th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 8:00 right now in Tokyo where a massive rescue effort is underway right now.
Again, we told you this is a two-prong disaster. There was the initial 8.9 magnitude quake. That is a historic earthquake, one of the fifth largest since 1900s. So this is one of the largest ones the world has ever seen.
Now that has triggered a massive tsunami that is hitting Japan right now, but also we have tsunami warnings in at least 20 other countries right now. So let's tell you what's going on. Get you caught up right now.
Again, this is a historic earthquake, folks, we have seen. You see where it struck there. It was about 80 miles off the coast and about 230 miles from Tokyo. Now this took about 8.9 magnitude, an 8.9 magnitude quake. That is a powerful quake and it was fairly shallow, so that has increased, if you will. The magnitude of this quake, it was fairly shallow, went too deep in that ocean floor.
Now Tokyo is what you're seeing there. This is one newsroom there where the shaking was happening to give you an idea. Again, this is 230 miles away, folks, from the epicenter of this earthquake. So they felt it.
Our Kyung Lah there in Tokyo saying, in fact, that it went on for several minutes. People there, they felt the building, things sway. From what we are getting, the reports, Tokyo in pretty decent shape, if you will. Structurally sound city, they are used to earthquakes in Japan. They get a lot of them. So quite frankly, they know how to handle them in some ways. But still, people poured out into the streets, but still chaos. Some train lines right now have people stranded because those trains aren't running. Some issues there but not a lot of reports of major damage.
The quake, though, it unleashed this tsunami and these massive waves. We're getting reports of some as high as 30 feet starting to come ashore. And when they did, boy, they took with them everything in their path, these waters here.
This picture you see kind of the wave develop. Of course, as it gets closer to shore, that's when it gets more powerful, it gets higher, and it moves sometimes out there in the water at some 500- miles-an-hour. But the pictures we are seeing of actually when it comes on land and just takes everything with it. We are seeing cars, boats, anything in the path of these waves just being taken.
Is this the airport you were telling me about, Christine?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
HOLMES: Christine Romans out here with us, as well. This is a picture of the airport there in that particular area. You can see -- people literally looking for higher ground. Reports right now of at least 32 people dead. That is expected to rise. That death toll, and rise dramatically. But we do have tsunami warnings for about 20 countries and includes the West Coast of the U.S., Hawaii, as well, Alaska, as well.
CHETRY: Yes, I understand, Rob, we've been hearing that there is a full coastal evacuation in effect in Hawaii right now. And, you know, we get this sheet and I know you have two of the coordinates and the estimated arrival time of where the tsunami is. What does that translate into in terms of waves and what people can expect and really how much time they have to get out of harm's way?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the pictures that we've been showing, those dramatic pictures where you see water and debris on all sorts of stuff moving rapidly inland, being pushed in on like that and in some cases tens of miles inland, there was little warning. This is very close to the shoreline, in which the epicenter of this quake was about 80 miles offshore. So the wave -- the tsunami after the quake happened hit that shoreline about 15, 20 minutes later. So virtually no warning at all. And you get the full force of that impact without any sort of buffer from the ocean.
Now, as this thing travels across the ocean in all directions down to the south, up to the north off to the east, it does begin to lose its intensity the further it is away. But it's such a strong quake. And it's a pretty shallow quake at about 15 miles deep. That's the other thing. This is more shallow than the Banda Aceh quake. So conceivably, the ocean floor may have moved more, which would move the ocean above it more, as well. And how much, we just don't know. But a 30-foot wave hitting the shoreline of Japan just gives you an idea of exactly how strong that is.
All right. Let's try to put things in perspective just a little bit as far as what we expect to see as this thing propagates away from the epicenter. Again, in all directions. It will move off to the east. These things, remember now, travel at 500 miles an hour. The speed of a jumbo jet. So if you're trying to time this out as far as when will it hit Japan? Or when will it hit Hawaii? And when will hit the West Coast? You can pretty much kind of -- have you ever flown from Hawaii to the West Coast, you can kind of figure that out.
We do expect it to hit Hawaii at, well, around 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, which means 3:00 a.m. so in the middle of the night Hawaii time. And then shortly after that, figure four hours from Hawaii to get to the West Coast here and California. The entire West Coast now under a tsunami warning.
How high that wave is, we just don't know. We had one expert on that said it could be anywhere from two to four feet, possibly higher. Likely higher than that in Hawaii, at least in some spots in Hawaii. So that's the scariest part of this. That is the unknown. We know when it's going to hit, Kiran and T.J., but we don't know how high that wave is going to be after it traverses the entire Pacific Ocean. Back to you.
CHETRY: Amazing. All right, Rob. We're going to continue to check in with you. I know you're getting updates by the minute, as well, on this situation. Thanks.
So the Obama administration, as well, monitoring these events, of course, in Japan and Hawaii. Ed Henry is live at the White House.
And, Ed, we heard from Barbara Starr that they're all right starting to on-load supplies at some of our big naval ships to try to -- that are already in that region to try to get some disaster relief out there. What is the White House saying this morning?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kiran, you're absolutely right. This is going to be a massive U.S. response. Not just because of the fact that there are various U.S. states that may be affected, but obviously Japan a very close ally to the United States. This president, I've been with him on two trips to Japan just in the last two years, very critical ally. And, in fact, we've just been told by White House officials the president was informed by his chief of staff, Bill Daley, at 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning about this massive earthquake. The resulting tsunami, as well.
We've just gotten this statement, literally just in, a written statement from the president of the United States. Quote, "Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the people of Japan, particularly those who have lost loved ones in the earthquake and tsunamis. The United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial. The friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakable," the president says adding, "and only strengthens our resolve to stand with the people of Japan as they overcome this tragedy. We will continue to closely monitor tsunamis around Japan and the Pacific going forward. And we're asking all our citizens in the affected region to listen to their state and local officials as I have instructed FEMA to be ready to assist Hawaii and the rest of the U.S. states and territories that could be affected." Note that nugget at the end there. The president noting even here now just after 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
Again, he was informed over two hours ago by his chief of staff, that the White House has already instructed FEMA, the federal Emergency Management Agency, to start spreading the word, get it out there. My producer, Bonnie Capp (ph), has also done some research and seen that just last February, you'll remember, there was that massive earthquake in Chile and there was a resulting tsunami warning in Hawaii. And the president actually came out on camera here at the White House to tell American citizens and people around the world heed those warnings, be very careful. So obviously this is the president -- let's not forget, he grew up in Hawaii, was born in Hawaii. This is -- he goes to Hawaii every year for the holidays. He is making sure that fellow U.S. citizens there in Hawaii are on top of this. But it could affect more than just Hawaii, as well, as you've been reporting up and down the U.S. West Coast, as well, in some danger.
Last note and point I'll make is that the president already had a news conference scheduled here at the White House for 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time. He wanted, we're told by White House aides, to talk about high gas prices, other big domestic issues. No doubt he'd get questions about Libya and some of these foreign policy crisis. But you can bet the agenda for this news conference has gotten a whole lot more urgent to say the least, T.J. and Kiran.
CHETRY: Absolutely. All right. Ed, thanks.
HOLMES: Ed, thanks.
HENRY: Thank you.
HOLMES: Our Kyung Lah, reporter in Tokyo -- all right. That's our producer talking. I'm not sure who you're talking to. But we're going to turn to our Kyung Lah here in just a moment. She's in Tokyo.
We can show some of these pictures here in a moment, as well. But our Kyung Lah was there. She described the shaking went on for several minutes, actually, in Tokyo. A lot of people stranded on trains. It's hard to get around. But still Tokyo is in pretty good shape for all accounts.
CHETRY: Yes. I mean, it's interesting as she describes, you know, people have nowhere to go because they can't get there because the transportations obviously have been disrupted. Very difficult to get in touch with people, as well, because so many people are trying to make mobile calls. But relatively speaking, when you look at what's happening northeast, it's a very different story. But let's bring in Kyung Lah right now. She was there, as T.J. said, when the earthquake struck.
What's the latest right now, Kyung?
KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What I want to briefly update some of our viewers. One of the big concerns here in Japan is what's going to happen with the nuclear power plants. Well, we just heard from the government and they've issued an emergency declaration around one of the nuclear power plants near Sendai, near that devastated area, that area where we starting -- where we've seen that tsunami come across.
The concern there is that the electrical power isn't quite as strong as they would like, and so they've told people to stay in their homes until they can figure out exactly what they have here. They do want to make sure that people understand this isn't a nuclear meltdown or any huge problem, but it is something that they do want to make sure people are mindful of and stay in their homes.
You were talking earlier, just a second ago, Kiran and T.J., about the experience in Tokyo, a city of 13 million people and many people felt this very large earthquake hundreds of miles from the epicenter. Just take a look at our office, and you'll see that what we have here on our floor is strewn papers. If you look at our tape library, the tapes have fallen all on the ground, and this is just one office, one small place that experienced the earthquake.
I was at Tokyo Station and, really, that's where you felt the ground severely shaking because we were underground. And a lot of people who were there at the station were quite alarmed because even though this is a country where you do experience quite a few earthquakes, I mean, I've experienced dozens in just the short time that I've been here. This was dramatically different. You knew this was different because it went on for quite a long time and the shaking was so strong. The train signs were moving back and forth, and people were reacting more -- we're reacting differently.
Normally, if there's an earthquake, oh, you look at your watch and you move on. The difference here is that people were alarmed. And when the trains were shut down, certainly the concern level rose, as well.
But the prime minister has made sure that people understand what they don't want now in the aftermath of this is even more concern that's -- that's really not warranted here that there be no panic. That people try to find their way home, make sure they connect with their families, start to free up some of the mobile phone lines, because that's been a real challenge here trying to get through on any phone lines, and then try to get those rescue crews out of Tokyo or the nearby corresponding areas and to the hard-hit regions.
It is nighttime here. It is winter here. It is going to be a challenge trying to reach all those people and trying to get them out very safely. And as we can see from the pictures, it is devastation up there. But we may -- may not understand the full scope of it on its (ph) daylight in several hours.
CHETRY: And just to clarify. So in Tokyo right now, is there significant damage to infrastructure? Or did they -- were they able to -- to make it through this?
LAH: I have to tell you that from what I've seen, it does not appear that Tokyo is severely damaged at all. But remember, we're a good distance away from the epicenter. Tokyo may be the most populous city in Japan, but it's also significantly far away from the epicenter. There are some reports of buildings being cracked or some ceilings falling in. There are some building fires reported. We've seen that oil refinery fire in Chiba, which is about an hour away from Tokyo.
So there is some damage. But it is certainly not like what we are seeing up north. Tokyo for the most part is fine. These buildings are built to sway. People are prepared for it. The train lines are prepared to shut down if there is a disaster. So, for the most part, the infrastructure is intact, it's just simply not working right now trying to get the people out because there is concern of the aftershocks.
HOLMES: All right. Kyung Lah for us in Tokyo. We appreciate you this morning. We'll continue to check in with you.
About 19 minutes past the hour here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Breaking news story, two-pronged disaster, we're calling this now after an initial massive earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami. Tsunami warnings in place for these 20 countries including the West Coast of the U.S. Some of the pictures we can show you here as I bring in Dave Applegate with the United States Geological Survey.
Sir, we appreciate you being here with us. Help us put this in perspective. We know this is one of the largest earthquakes the world has ever seen. Just how rare of an occurrence is an 8.9 magnitude earthquake?
DAVE APPLEGATE, UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: Well, as you've mentioned, this is -- we've only had a handful of these in the past century. This is the biggest earthquake we've had since the -- the magnitude 9.1 Sumatra earthquake that struck the day after Christmas 2004, of course, the devastating tsunami from that. This 8.9 is slightly larger than the 8.8 we had off of Chile last February. Again, significant damage.
But as with Japan, the Chile was a country that had significant building codes. I mean, if there's a country that can try to take this sort of a punch, it is -- it is Japan. But the relentlessness of both the event and as you pointed out the tsunami is -- is hard to deal with.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about the tsunami, because we have these warnings. We have the sea level readings coming to us from the Pacific Tsunami Center. And as we start to see the -- I guess, areas that are in the line of fire when it comes to these waves potentially making their way through, what are the biggest concerns that you're going to be monitoring as we see this?
APPLEGATE: Well, our job at the -- at the USGS is to report on the earthquakes. And of course, that's one part of this disaster is not just the first event itself, as big as it was, but also the constant aftershocks. I mean, we've already had one over magnitude 7. That would be a big earthquake in its own right. We've had something like a dozen that are larger than magnitude 6.
At the same time, the NOAA Tsunami Warning Centers, as you pointed out, are tracking the progress of these waves across the Pacific. This is a system that's been largely built out since that Sumatra event, recognition of the challenges associated with it. The warnings that have been issued for the U.S. Coast for so many of the islands in the Western Pacific, some of them the waves have already reached there.
The big challenge is that while we can -- we can track the wave across the ocean very well, there's a tremendous amount of variability in the -- in the coastline. So that the most important thing is if there's a warning there is just people need to move away from the coast.
HOLMES: Last thing here to you quickly, sir. How much of an impact does it have on this event that it was only about, I believe this was about 15 miles deep. The depth of an earthquake, the epicenter is always so critical. So what kind of an impact did that have that was only 15 miles down?
APPLEGATE: Well, you know, that's -- that's very significant, of course, particularly for an onshore event because it means that the population is that much closer.
Now, this one was offshore, so there were a couple of factors here. Of course, the one is simply the water depth, the amount of water that's going to be moved associated with the tsunami itself.
In this case, the -- the shallowness of the event is simply -- it makes it that much closer to -- to the population on the -- on the adjoining coast. There's not as much -- you know, it doesn't have to move through as much earth in order to transfer that energy directly to both the water column and then, of course, with the shaking reaching the populated areas.
HOLMES: All right. Mr. Applegate, we appreciate you. I don't think you're going to go too far. We'd like to check back in with you as we continue our coverage this morning, but thank you.
APPLEGATE: Sure thing.
CHETRY: All the military personnel in Japan has been accounted for -- U.S. Military personnel. Our Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with some new information.
I know you had been talking to us about the U.S. mobilizing for this relief effort. What else is going on, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, T.J., we do have some additional news. What we now know is a U.S. Navy and Air Force airfields, two of them in Japan, now accepting commercial airliners to land at these military airfields because they cannot land in Tokyo's commercial airports. Those airports, apparently, the runways are full of planes that were there and could not leave because of the situation.
So, you know, think of it this way. As this unfolded overnight, airliners were in the sky, on their routine flights into Japan, but had nowhere to land. So the U.S. Military now accepting commercial airliners for landing at their facilities. We also know now that there has been some evacuation of military personnel from low-lying areas on Okinawa. Those are mainly Marine Corps personnel. Everybody accounted for there, but some precautionary evacuations.
I just spoke to U.S. Military officials in Hawaii who are monitoring all of this. They are getting ready. They're about another two hours, looking at the clock, they're under a tsunami warning in Hawaii. Military personnel, like everyone else in Hawaii, taking precautions, moving to higher ground, but they have made a decision that they don't think they will have to evacuate ships out of Pearl Harbor, that they think they can ride all of this out.
However, they tell me that they are watching the Tsunami Warning Center and they're watching the waves every 15 minutes, and they will make their calculations throughout the day as the situation moves further to the east -- T.J., Kiran.
HOLMES: All right. Barbara Starr with the update from the Pentagon.
We're going to check in with our Christine Romans on that same issue of airports here in just a moment as well. But, before we get to that, we need to turn to the -- the mayor of Honolulu, Mr. Carlisle -- Mayor Carlisle on the line with us here now.
So, we appreciate you giving us an update. Just tell me, how are you and your citizens preparing for what's coming?
MAYOR PETER CARLISLE, HONOLULU, HAWAII (via telephone): Well, once the first siren went off, the first warning siren, we began an active evacuation of all coastal inundation zones. And we're -- since this is an event that we have -- have to confront on a somewhat regular basis, we actually have the inundation zones in the front our telephone books. And so we're having the police, ambulance, fire all doing those things that we need to do to assist people get out of the inundation zone and to safer ground.
CHETRY: How concerned are you right now? I know you probably are tracking all of this information, both from the USGS and from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Explain for us when we talk about the potential height of waves five feet, how much of a concern is it?
CARLISLE: Well, we get a number of predictions on occasion and sometimes they pan out and sometimes they don't. So, we have to basically gear this to what is the worst-case scenario that's reasonable with what we understand the circumstances are to be, and that information led us to believe that evacuation was appropriate and to take all necessary precautions.
So we -- one of the things about tsunamis is they're very, very unpredictable, and you can't tell how many waves they're going to be, you can't tell whether the heights are going to be the same, you can't tell which wave is going to be the one that creates the greatest difference or is to -- excuse me, going to create the greatest damage. And then, finally, you don't know how long the tsunamis are going to keep on coming in.
So it is a very, very difficult situation to confront. And its precautions for the safety of human life that have to be at the forefront of our thinking.
HOLMES: Again, Mayor Peter Carlisle, mayor of Honolulu on the line with us here. Sir, that was fascinating to hear. Clearly, you all are prepared for things like this, given that you say that telephone books even have the inundation zones right there in the front for people to know when they need to get out.
How many people are we talking about are in those particular evacuation zones? How many people need to be on the move right now? Do you have an idea?
CARLISLE: I can't give you an idea on that. The population of the island is 920 million. But it's difficult to say how many people are in those areas that are -- oh, excuse me. I'm sorry, 920,000, not million.
And -- and then what I'm -- what -- but the key is the people who are in the inundation zones, we don't keep that -- we don't track that.
HOLMES: All right. Again, Mayor Carlisle, we appreciate you hopping on the line, giving us an update. A lot of people concerned about our fellow citizens there in Hawaii.
But we appreciate you checking in with us. Thanks so much and good luck out there.
CHETRY: So, clearly --
CARLISLE: My pleasure, and I appreciate your good wishes.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Oh, absolutely. Well, good luck to you, for sure.
And they obviously are -- have a preparation level, something that we, you know, can only imagine, because they're used to this. But there -- there are still some big impacts taking place. We can't control Mother Nature. We've learned that the hard way many times.
Christine Romans joins us more with how the earthquake is potentially impacting some of the airports.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Now, if you've been seen a lot of pictures of Sendai Airport in Japan, this airport has been closed. These are the pictures you're seeing with the people standing on their roof.
You can see the air traffic control tower. It looks like water washing over the runways, washing through the parking lots. That airport is closed because of the flood waters, because of the tsunami. But Tokyo's Narita Airport has canceled all the flights for the rest of the day. If you are flying internationally, please check.
You heard Barbara Starr report that some of the passenger planes are being allowed to -- commercial planes are being allowed to -- to land at U.S. military facilities, so clearly there's a lot of trans-Atlantic flights, international flights that are trying to be rerouted and find places for those to land now.
Their flights have resumed at Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Kansai International Airport is operating normally. But, again, all of the big, major carriers are saying that there have been flight changes, there have been flights that have been rerouted to other places. You're going to need to really check there overall.
Watching also the markets. The stock market in Japan fell in -- in the few minutes, in the small time that it had after the earthquake struck and before the market closed. Those futures, the Nikkei futures, trades in futures, down about three percent right now. Watching that to see what the impact will be.
Obviously, this is the third largest economy in the world, $5.5 trillion economy. Still trying to figure out what the extent of the damage is in Japan, even as the story now looks to the tsunami and where it could be moving and what kind of damage could be happening there. So just about everything you can imagine still unfolding here.
But again, those airports, please check because you're going to have some substantial international disruptions, you guys, today.
HOLMES: All right. We appreciate the update. I know there was a number of things you're keeping an eye on, as well. But we're keeping an eye on this disaster because it's going to have implications far reaching that we'll be dealing with for a while.
Christine, thank you.
ROMANS: Sure.
HOLMES: For our viewers, thank you for staying with us, and stay right here. We're just going to take a quick break. Information continues to come in on the two-prong disaster this morning.
If you are just joining us, 8.9 magnitude quake, one of the largest the world has ever seen, hitting off the coast of Japan, triggering a tsunami there and tsunami warnings for about 20 countries, including the West Coast of the U.S., Hawaii as well.
Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CHETRY: Well, if you're just waking up with us, we have been on early. This is a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
We're following the latest right now out of Japan where an 8.9 magnitude quake struck before 3:00 p.m. local time. It happened just before 1:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. And the epicenter was in the sea, about 230 miles from Tokyo.
The quake rattled homes and businesses, caused many to collapse, and cars literally toppled off of bridges. Millions of people are still without power and there are reports of casualties, but according to our Kyung Lah, for the most part, the infrastructure of Tokyo did make it through this. Obviously, they still have a lot of cleanup and have a lot to deal with.
But again, the bigger disaster was triggered by the tsunami -- this wall of water having a devastating impact along the northeast coastline. The waves as you can see moving so rapidly, racing across farmland. This is to the north and east of Tokyo, several miles inland, just washing away everything in its path -- homes, cars, trucks, and unfortunately people.
We are going to be finding out more about the number of dead. Right now, there is an active rescue operation underway to try to save people. The confirmed number of dead at 32. But officials expect that to rise.
Tsunami warnings are up in at least 20 countries, including here in the U.S., most specifically Hawaii and the U.S. coastline, stretching from the California/Mexico border all the way up to Alaska.
Back in Japan near Tokyo, there are incredible pictures of some of the disastrous effects of this earthquake, including this oil refinery burning out of control. Japan is also shutting down some of its nuclear power plants. We also had a chance to hear from Kyung Lah that they made an declaration, some concerns that the electrical power is not as strong as they'd like. They've told people in that vicinity to stay in their homes but they warn that this is not any type of nuclear meltdown or leak.
The prime minister of Japan saying as of right now that there are no reports of any radio active materials leaking from any of these plants.
HOLMES: All right. We are not going far away from that story at all. I just want to give you an update on the couple of other stories we are following this morning, including what's happening in Wisconsin.
The state assembly there has now passed that bill, that controversial bill, that would curb collective bargaining rights for most state workers. It is now going to go to Governor Scott Walker for his signature and, yes, he plans on signing it.
Protesters were outside the chamber yesterday chanting as we have heard throughout some of these protests, "Shame, shame." You see here the police had to remove some of the protesters. Thousands converged on the doors of the capitol during the actual vote.
The only Democrat present that was when a joint Senate assembly agreed to the bill has now filed a legal complaint and says that Wednesday's conference violates open meetings law.
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STATE REP. PETER BARCA (D), WISCONSIN ASSEMBLY MINORITY LEADER: So disappointing. Obviously, the stain on democracy in Wisconsin just spreads broader and wider. And I feel so badly for the citizens that once again today, they were cheated out of democracy.
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HOLMES: Now, the bill was amended. You'll remember that the Senate Democrats, the Democratic senators, 14 of them left the state to avoid a quorum so that Republicans could not pass that bill. Well, Republicans were able to amend it so that they would be able to vote on it without that quorum. So, it has now passed and it goes to the governor for his signature.
CHETRY: Emotions certainly running high yesterday at the controversial hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims. It was called by New York Congressman Peter King. He faced some strong criticism from Democrats and Muslim groups. Some accused King of McCarthyism.
Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison who we spoke to yesterday on our show, the first Muslim elected to Congress, testified at the proceedings. He tearfully described the sacrifices of Muslim- Americans.
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REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA: Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans. His life should not be identified as just a member of an ethnic group or just a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Despite the controversy, King is promising additional hearings in the coming months. And he says the next one could focus on the radicalization of Muslims in U.S. prison.
Well, do Muslim-Americans face more suspicion than people of other religions? CNN's Soledad O'Brien traveled to the nation's Bible belt to find out firsthand how some Muslims are being treated. Her report entitled "Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door," airs Sunday, March 27th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
HOLMES: I want to give you an update, as well, about what's happening in Libya. The rebellion there seems to be pushed back in the oil port city of Ras Lanuf. They have been outmatched there in an air assault by Colonel Gadhafi's government troops. Also, Zawiya, the main square there, you can see it and it shows a city just left in shambles after the intense fighting there.
Moammar Gadhafi's son, Saif Gadhafi, is speaking out, insisting that the regime is still in control of the country and promising to rescue its supporters.
The U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says Gadhafi has the upper hand in the long run.
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JAMES CLAPPER, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We believe that Gadhafi is in this for the long haul. I don't think he has any intention, despite some of the press speculation to the contrary, of leaving. From all the evidence that we have, which we'd be prepared to discuss in closed session, he appears to be hunkering down for the duration. I think longer term that the regime will prevail.
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HOLMES: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced she will meet with opposition leaders. The U.S. is suspending relations with the Libyan embassy in Washington, but not saying they are officially cutting off all diplomatic ties.
CHETRY: Well, the quake is causing an emergency on a massive scale in Hawaii, as well. Let's see how they're responding in Washington.
Our Jill Dougherty is live at the State Department right now.
Good morning, Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kiran and T.J.
You know, it's very difficult to get through by phones, as you can imagine. And some of the best information right now for American citizens who might be there or traveling there is actually on the State Department Web site. And I've been checking that as well as the Web site for the Tokyo embassy. That's a very important place for anybody who wants to get information.
And so, right now, what is happening is the U.S. embassy, which today, by the way, is closed physically in Tokyo. But it is communicating with the consulate throughout Japan. They are feeding information to the Department of Counselor Services, and that's the department that deals with all sorts of help for American citizens who are traveling abroad. And that information is going into the State Department here and the White House.
Now, one thing they did do is they have issued a warden message. The warden message is for U.S. citizens who are traveling or residing in Japan. And it's alerting them -- and you can see this actually on the Web site -- a list of 53 prefectures in Japan and the tsunami warnings because after all, that's what we're worried about now. Tsunami alerts or people in those regions.
They also say that they'll be monitoring that and updating messages as the information comes out. They also urge Americans to carry their travel documents at all times if possible or secure them in some type of safe waterproof location. And also, they say Americans should check, if possible, with their families back in the States to give them information on where they are.
And then, finally, you can check out that Web site. It has telephone numbers, links to different locations and information that's very, very helpful.
CHETRY: All right. Well, that's certainly good news. I know a lot of people are going to need that information -- very vital as people are trying to figure this thing out. Thanks very much, Jill.
HOLMES: Well, also important some information for a lot of folks is these tsunami warnings in place for a lot of countries, the West Coast, California. Hawaii is also under the tsunami warnings.
So, what exactly should they prepare for?
I want to bring in Lori Dengler. She's a professor of geology at Humboldt State University in California.
Ma'am, thank you for hopping on the line here with you.
You have dealt with earthquake. You have dealt with tsunamis and the aftermath before. What exactly does an 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan trigger all the way over, possibly, in the U.S., West Coast, and also in Hawaii? What can they expect?
LORI DENGLER, PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY (via telephone): Well, we can expect a series of surges that will be arriving along the California coast and the southern Oregon coast a little after 7:00 tomorrow morning or this morning. And it's been a long night for many of us, still feels like the same day. And the first surges will be arriving down at the southern California coast little before 9:00 a.m. and then up in the Washington state and even Canada, again, sort of ranging in the early morning hours.
So, right now, coastal emergency managers are very, very busy working with first responders and public safety people to basically organize the process of an organized evacuation. Evacuation is not something that's simple. It's not something that can be done lightly. People can be injured in the process of evacuating if it's not done in a very careful, controlled way.
And the fortunate thing for us over here on the West Coast is that we've had a lot of time to sort of see this coming and be able to get routes in place and notification systems in place. In much of this part of the West Coast, we're dealing with very rural populations. And so, unlike in Japan and in Hawaii where you have many sirens and most people are within earshot of the sirens, there are only -- sirens tend to be concentrated only in a few places on this, you know, relatively rural, remote part of the West Coast.
And so, we have to rely on other ways of notifying people. Certainly radio and television, but, you know -- this is the middle of the night.
HOLMES: Can I jump in here for a second? Because I think it's important to qualify this for our viewers.
DENGLER: Sure.
HOLMES: Because we're showing them pictures of a tsunami hitting Japan. And they're seeing cars being wiped away. They're seeing boats being wiped away. Everything in this way of this wall of water is just being swept up.
Now, I just -- even though there's a tsunami warning, we talk about a wave coming to the West Coast or Hawaii, what is it going to look like? We say a wall of water, yes, and you can imagine. But are we talking flooding? Or I jut want to make sure they understand.
DENGLER: Well --
HOLMES: And we're not saying it's going to look necessarily like what we're seeing in Japan, right?
DENGLER: No, it's going to look different. And it will look different in different places. And even in different parts of the same state or same county, it can look different.
In some cases, it looks like a wall. In some cases, it looks much more like a sloping mountain of water. In some cases, it looks like a rapidly rising flood or rapidly rising tide hence the old term tidal wave that we don't really like to use anymore.
But, really, in many cases, that's what it looks like. Interesting, the native people in our area, the (INAUDIBLE) people, described the earth tilting and the water literally flowing in. That was their description of a tsunami. And I think it's a kind of a useful way of visualizing it. We don't know what the tsunami is going to look like here.
It has the potential to look, perhaps, a little like what happened in 1964 along the west coast, when there was quite a bit of damage and flooding in Oregon, Washington, Canada, and the worst-hit west coast community city was Crescent City which is very close to where I live here in California.
HOLMES: Lori Dengler, we appreciate you hopping on the line. I know it has been a long night for you all out there in California.
DENGLER: Right.
HOLMES: And I know you're still working, and we appreciate you hopping on the line with us. Thank you so much. And again, as we continue to look at these pictures, these are the ones that are just so striking this morning to see this wall of water take everything with it as it moves inland. Just remarkable pictures out of Japan. CHETRY: Right. Northeast of Tokyo, just unbelievable, and this is where they're going to be needing to conduct a lot of their rescue operations, obviously, if they're able to get people out of there alive. That is still something that's actively happening now that we're going to continue to follow.
Meantime, Matt Alt is an American writer and a translator living in Tokyo. He was at home when the quake hit. Let's listen to a little bit of his account.
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VOICE OF MATT ALT, EARTHQUAKE WITNESS: It was absolutely unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I've been living here for eight years now, and this was quite simply the biggest, longest lasting earthquake I've ever experienced here. There are earthquakes from time to time, but we have never ever felt anything on the magnitude, the literal magnitude of what with experienced today.
It was a beautiful spring day. It was sunny outside. I'd just come home from a little errand to the grocery store, and all of a sudden, bam, it just hit. And you could tell this was different instantly from other little tremors that we've had before. I mean, it just picked up an intensity. It round up the gentle shaking and things started coming off the shelves.
Things started falling off our desks, and you could hear this strange eerie creaking sound of all the buildings, all around us as they were kind of shaking by the tremor of the ground. It was something, you know, I hope I never have to hear again. The ground was rolling for an extended period of time. I wasn't exactly sure what to do or where to go. I'd never been prepared for anything like this. My wife and I stood outside and basically held on to the outside of our house.
You couldn't even stand up. I mean, literally, at the peak of these waves that were washing over the ground, you literally could not stay on your feet. You had to kind of crouch down in a ball or put your back against something so you didn't fall. And that's exactly what we did for the length of the duration of it, which I would say was about probably a minute to two minutes. It just felt like a lot longer than that, let me tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That was Matt Alt for us explaining a little bit about what it was like to actually be there when this happened. Scary, scary time.
HOLMES: Yes. Our Ed Henry, let's turn to him now at the White House for us this morning. Ed, hello to you again.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
HOLMES: I know we got to stay (ph) a short time ago from President Obama, and now, we're hearing from the vice president? HENRY: That's right. Top administration officials reacting literally all around the world right now, T.J., to this tragic earthquake and the resulting tsunamis. Bottom line is Vice President Biden, he's traveling in Moldova. He just commented and said, quote, "The thoughts and prayers of the American people and the Moldovan people are with our friends in Japan," in his words.
He called this a mega-earthquake. The vice president adding, quote, "We, the United States, stand ready to do anything we can to help our Japanese friends as they deal with the aftermath of this tragedy." That coming in from a pool (ph) reporter who is traveling with Vice President Biden right now. He's been overseas for several days. You see those pictures. He had been in Russia, now in Maldova.
As you know that this follows a written statement from the president of United States in the 6:00 a.m. eastern hour here because he's been up for a couple of hours now. We were told by White House officials, the president was woken up by his chief of staff, Bill Daley, about 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time informed about this horrific earthquake. Very briefly, let me summarize what the president said.
He said that he and the first lady are sending, in his words, their deepest condolences to the people of Japan, particularly, those who have lost loved ones, the preside said. He also added that the U.S. stands ready as the vice president did to help Japan in any way. The president saying, quote, "The friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakable and only strengthens our resolve to stand with the people of Japan as they overcome this tragedy."
I'll note, the president has traveled to Japan twice as president in November of 2009, November of 2010, as well. He was there just over a year ago. Now, this could also affect Hawaii, other U.S. states and territories in the pacific, as well as you've been reporting all morning. Obviously, worth noting the president was born in Hawaii, spent a good chunk of his childhood in Hawaii. He goes there every year for the holidays.
He is also adding in his written statement that he has now instructed FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency to, in his words, quote, "Be ready to assist Hawaii and the rest of the U.S. states and territories that could be affected." Obviously, the president already had scheduled a news conference for 11:15 a.m. eastern time here at the White House.
White House aides informed us of that last night saying the president wanted to talk about surging gas prices here in the United States, as you can imagine. Libya and other international crises were also going to be coming up at this news conference. Now, that agenda has gotten even more pack, even more urgent for this news conference -- T.J., Kiran.
HOLMES: All right. Ed Henry for us from the White House. I know you're keeping an eye on things. Fast moving developments. Getting statements in. We appreciate you checking in.
HENRY: Thank you. CHETRY: Joining us now on the phone right now is Bill Dorman, news director of Hawaiian public radio. And Bill, as I understand it, you also lived and worked in Tokyo for many years and cover the last major Kobe earthquake in early 1995. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
BILL DORMAN, NEWS DIRECTOR, HAWAIIAN PUBLIC RADIO (on the phone): You bet.
CHETRY: Just give us a sense of what's going on there as you, guys, prepare for this potential tsunami, potential wave to start coming ashore.
DORMAN: The authorities have certainly put everybody on high alert. The entire state now is under a tsunami warning bumped up earlier from the tsunami watch. That means that sirens have been piercing the night skies of Honolulu. Some of the stores around here have been full of people, aisles of people getting water and flashlight batteries and things like that.
Police around Honolulu have closed off access to some of the roads that are immediately by the ocean. People being told to move to higher ground. And so, really, the entire state not just Honolulu, not just Oahu is preparing for what could be a bad blow coming.
CHETRY: What are the biggest concerns? I mean, you mentioned people getting gas? People getting up on supplies. I mean, is that making sure that people, perhaps, are not able to get out on their own get to higher ground? I mean, how does this sort of go down?
DORMAN: Well, there are a couple of things. Flooding is a big concern and something that people are aware of. In fact, if you open any Hawaii phone book in the front part of the phone book, you'll see maps with inundation zones marked by colors and highlighted. So, people are aware of flood zones here. They know when there is a problem with that.
That's something that's being watched. One of the things about tsunamis that we're told is that they envelope entire islands. So, it doesn't matter which shore you're facing or which direction you're facing. The power of the tsunami can envelope the entire island. So, that is a concern again, especially for low-lying areas and for coastal areas.
HOLMES: Bill, we know there were sirens that were going off alerting people. How much warning do they anticipate people might get before the first wave, we understand, what about an hour or so from now. The scheduled arrival, if you will, of the first wave. So, I guess, what kind of warning? Will there be any more warning?
DORMAN: Well, that's it. As you said, it's a little bit more than an hour from now that we're expecting the first wave. And the sirens have been going for intermittently for several hours now and driving around the city a bit earlier. Certainly, there are a lot more lights on than there usually are at 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning in Honolulu, but in terms of how precise the warning can be, that gets a bit tricky.
You know, it was just about a year ago, a little more than a year ago with that 8.8 quake off the coast of Chile that there was a tsunami warning in Hawaii, as well. And at that time, a lot of people were prepared and were fearing the worst at the time and that turned out to be a very minor event.
So, the governor was so concerned that people may not be taking seriously this time that he made a statement that really pay attention to this, take this seriously, take the precautions, move to higher ground if you need to and get ready for it.
CHETRY: All right. It sounds like you know the preparations are in place. Now, it's a waiting game for all of you, certainly, as you try to figure out just how intense this may be heeding the warnings just to be safe. Thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
HOLMES: We're getting close to the top of the hour here. We have been telling you about this earthquake. You hear 8.9, but to put that in some perspective, folks, this is the fifth largest earthquake the world has seen since 1900. In Chile, the largest recorded since 1900, a 9.5 magnitude quake. The second strongest was a 9.2 in Alaska.
After that, you see in Sumatra, you remember that, in 2004, that was the one that triggered that massive tsunami that killed so many people in Indonesia. The 9.1, that one was. The fourth was in Russia, a 9.0 quake, and this one registers at 8.9. So, we are looking at a historic disaster.
CHETRY: We also have warnings in effect for the coastal areas of California, coastal areas of Oregon right now. And, they're looking at the Oregon/Washington border, according to Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. And you mentioned the earthquake and the tsunami that hit back in 2004. Since then, they've made a lot of upgrades to be able to get information out to people sooner.
They're saying right now, at least, according to the Hawaii State Civil Defense that the first impact of these waves emanating from the tsunami could be felt at about 8:07 eastern time. So, about an hour from now, it would be about 3:00 in the morning local time. And as we just heard, the sirens are going off. They're letting people know for sure. So, we'll continue to update that.
In the meantime, we want to give you a little bit of background if you're just joining us on exactly what happened. This 8.9 magnitude quake hit a little bit before 3:00 p.m. local time in Tokyo. So, just about a little bit before one o'clock in the morning here on the east coast. The epicenter was in the sea. It was about 230 miles from Tokyo. And this quake rattled homes, businesses. There were some collapses.
There were cars that toppled off of bridges, and of course, power knocked out to millions of people. And we do have reports of casualties. The latest update is 32. Unfortunately, they expect that to rise significantly, especially in the areas north and east of Tokyo. The quake, again, also causing a tsunami, a wall of water described as 13 feet high, having devastating impacts along the entire northeast coastline.
And the waves you see just literally racing across farmland. And this is several miles inland washing away everything in its path including homes, cars, trucks. And it's not just Japan. These tsunami warnings again are up in at least 20 countries around the globe. Hawaii and the U.S. coastline stretching from the California/Mexico border up into Canada and Alaska.
Now, back in Japan near Tokyo, there were also some incredible pictures of an oil refinery burning out of control. Japan also shutting down some of its nuclear power plants, and the prime minister saying that right now, there are no reports of any radioactive material leaking from those power plants.
We're going to take a quick break. We're going to set up for the top of the hour. We'll be right back.
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