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American Morning
Japan Quake: The Aftermath; New Fears of Nuclear Disaster; The Economic Aftershocks in Japan
Aired March 14, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: On this AMERICAN MORNING, new concerns in Japan as they work every angle to try to fend off a nuclear disaster. Two nuclear facilities are now badly compromised and one of them has just been hit by a second explosion.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The scope of the human tragedy is unfolding in Japan as thousands of bodies discovered, many of them washing up on Japanese shores. Officials try to get a handle on this enormous catastrophe.
CHETRY: And to Libya where a bloody civil war taking a toll on rebel forces. They've now retreated from a key city that they had captured and it is now back in control of Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
ROMANS: And Michele Bachmann's blunder. The Tea Party favorite was in New Hampshire testing the waters for a White House bid when she tried to deliver a history lesson that was way off the mark.
CHETRY: She's getting a little bit of heat for that this morning. We're going to have much more on all of that when AMERICAN MORNING starts now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Four days into an epic disaster, a growing crisis in Japan triggering worldwide concern. New explosions shaking Japan's crippled nuclear industry all while hundreds of bodies begin washing up onshore. The horror is unimaginable.
And thanks for being with us on this Monday, March 14th. It's 6:00 a.m. here on the East Coast, 7:00 p.m. in Tokyo, where we're following the latest developments on this unfolding catastrophe in Japan.
ROMANS: That's right. Here's what we know right now. The full scope of the earthquake and the tsunami's fury in Japan becoming clearer this morning. A new day brings new fears of a nuclear disaster now.
Overnight, another explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi (ph) Nuclear Plant. An emergency has also been declared at another nuclear plant after excessive radiation levels were detected. The prime minister of Japan is calling this the greatest hardship there since World War II. In the worst hit areas, hundreds of thousands of people are in need. There are long lines at gas stations and at food stores, people are waiting and waiting. There is a shortage of food and water this morning. CHETRY: Also, an overwhelming sense of despair. As we said, bodies washing up onshore. The number of dead continuing to mount and also the financial cost. Losses from the quake and tsunami could total $100 billion, making it one of the most expensive natural disasters in history.
Right now, teams of search and rescue dogs from across the globe are scouring wet and muddy wasteland searching for survivors. U.S. military also there but this morning, word that the USS Ronald Reagan and other Navy ships had to be moved after detecting a radioactive plume.
Now as the hour's tip by, the losses mount. According to the National Police Agency in Japan, more than 1,800 people have died. But there are expectations that number could exceed 10,000 as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas. More than 2,300 people are still missing and nearly 2,000 are being treated for injuries.
ROMANS: The world is watching nervously now that there's been a second explosion at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi (ph) Nuclear Power Plant. Still, Japanese officials insist radiation levels in the area remain within acceptable levels.
Stan Grant is live in Tokyo. Stan, what are officials doing right now to prevent a nuclear crisis?
STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What they're doing, Christine, is they're trying to still cool down these reactors. What happened today was an explosion, but it was a hydrogen explosion. It is a result of pressure that had built up inside the reactor, but it did not happen in the reactor. It happened in the outer wall. The reactor remains intact. Pretty much the same as an explosion that happened just the other day. But as a result of that explosion, yet another reactor was affected and its coolant system was also shut off.
Now, what they're trying to do is to put salt water into these reactors to try to cool them down. You talk about the radiation there. They have admitted that some radiation has escaped into the atmosphere in recent days. But officials here also say that that has been coming down. At the same time, the USS Ronald Reagan carrier group have had to divert their course because they say they've detected some of that radiation. Some of their crew members, in fact, have come into contact with it. About 160 people also around the area of the plant have also come in contact with radiation and they're being checked out, as well.
There is a 20-kilometer, 12 or 13-mile exclusion zone around the plant. About 200,000 people have had to be evacuated. Now all of this comes under the banner of assuming the worst, assuming a possible meltdown in the reactor and the consequences that would come from that. But they're also planning for the best, planning that their safety procedures, their backup safeguards actually kick in and avert any greater disaster -- Christine.
ROMANS: We know, Stan, that they're working very, very hard to prevent something worse from happening here. And I think it's important to point out that the hydrogen gas explosion is not a nuclear explosion and that these are designed with these big sort of concrete containment bunkers, if you will, walls and alike that are meant to absorb these sorts of things, right?
GRANT: Absolutely. Imagine your house and imagine that you have some jewelry in a safe. OK. You have your house. You have the outer structure. Perhaps the jewelry in the safe is inside a cupboard in the house. So there you have the cupboard. Then you have the safe. Inside that you have the jewelry. If you had some explosion or a fire, that's what it has to get through to affect your valuables inside the safe.
It's the same thing here. You have the building. You have the outer containment area. You have an inner containment vessel. Then you have the casing around the fuel rods. The risk is that if all of that fails, then the radioactive material could seep into the atmosphere. But as you can see, there are a lot of procedures there. A lot of fail-safe mechanisms before it gets to that point, Christine.
ROMANS: Certainly a test of 40-year-old technology in a 40-year-old facility. We're watching it with great attention here as the day wears on.
Stan Grant, thank you so much.
CHETRY: And with each passing hour, we're getting extraordinary new images of a disaster that has devastated Japan. These pictures capture the incredible force of the raging waters that tore apart the city of Sendai. Asahi TV says as many as 300 people were washed out to sea in this neighborhood alone. CNN has not confirmed that information, but the destruction is clear to the eye. Soledad O'Brien reports from Higashi Matsushima.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: The people who've already lost absolutely everything. They've also to some degree lost their future. You can see along -- this is Highway 45, just the massive amounts of debris behind these cars. And it goes back for a long way. And to my right, you can see the rice paddy fields. They've been flooded. They're full of debris and waste and oil in some cases. One farmer said he doesn't expect that they'll be farmable for another three years. The fishermen have already lost their boats.
So if you come this way, the train tracks are still covered in debris and this is Highway 45. No one has actually gotten this far down to start clearing. And until they're able to do that, really clear a good pathway, it's going to continue to slow down the supplies getting from here where we are, about an hour outside of Sendai, all the way north where in some places the damage is even more severe.
CHETRY: Soledad, thanks. And we're going to be checking in with Soledad throughout the morning.
Meantime, it is impossible to get a handle on the size and scope of the catastrophe. So many people have lost their homes and loved ones. Thousands of people dead, others still missing. And food, medicine, water and gas are scarce. The concern right now is the sense of panic about the possibility of any nuclear disaster. We're going to be checking in with Sanjay Gupta coming up a little later. He is also in the country not far from Sendai, reporting on what it is like there, food and water shortages and other problems.
ROMANS: On the nuclear front, those are developments that keep happening. We just don't know what the status is inside these reactors simply because people can't get close enough quite yet as they're trying to shut down, shut those down and cool those rods.
You know, the stunning images of this epic disaster in Japan continue to shock the world. Just look at these pictures. City streets were swallowed by the sea, making it hard to imagine how anyone in its path could survive.
CHETRY: Also, look at this picture of a Japanese man. He was swept out to sea by the tsunami on his roof. He was able to cling to it. The 60-year-old man spent two days drifting before Japanese troops were able to rescue him yesterday. He is OK. He fled his home when he heard that the tsunami was coming. Many forgot something and went back inside and that's when the wave hit. He says that the water swept away his wife. He was unable to stop that from happening. But he, again, survived simply by clinging to his roof. So some amazing survival stories amidst the tragedy.
Meantime, this morning, we're also watching the economic aftershocks of Japan's earthquake. Carmen Wong Ulrich joins us right now. She is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good to see you.
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
ROMANS: Good morning.
ULRICH: Good to see you ladies.
Well, you know, look, we're getting some mixed messages this morning. The Nikkei though is down. This is clear. The Japanese stock market is down about six percent. But looking at the closing over at Hong Kong and also in London, numbers are up. And that's the ripple effect here.
We've got some bargain hunters looking at going into the market after the market had fallen on Friday. Now, Japan, the Bank of Japan is injecting a record 15 trillion yen. That's $183 billion into the economy, liquidity to go in, and calm investors' worries, which is a lot.
Now the economic aftershocks here in the U.S., oil prices are down today due to less demand from Japan. Now, Japan, here the third largest importer of oil. But overall, energy prices could rise should they meet a shift from the nuclear power with those power plants shutting down to natural gas and coal. Now here's the big impact on us here as Toyota, Honda and Nissan have all shut down plants. This is due to electrical shortages and an inability to export, to get the cars out of the country. So we're going to see possible shortage of some car models, especially the very popular hybrid models. Toyota and Honda's hybrids are built in Japan. We're also going to see some higher electronic prices because Japan is a huge chipmaker. And if they have trouble exporting these products as well or more power shortages, there could be a big disruption in terms of export.
CHETRY: Also, a lot of things you don't think of, not only just the concerns about the market there, but also their exports.
ULRICH: Also the exports, as well. And as we can see, some of the markets are OK. Overall, it looks like, though, that even our futures, Dow futures are a little mixed. They are a little down by a tiny, tiny bit. The market seemed to be very neutral about this right now.
ROMANS: So much information to still develop. There you go.
ULRICH: Could all change tomorrow.
ROMANS: All right, Carmen Wong Ulrich. Thank you, Carmen. Nice to see you.
ULRICH: Thank you.
CHETRY: Nice to see you.
ROMANS: Next on AMERICAN MORNING, new concern about the leak of radioactive material in Japan after a second hydrogen explosion at an earthquake -- the earthquake damaged nuclear plant there.
CHETRY: Also, it's a trail of pictures that captured the true devastation in Japan. We're getting in an inside look at what's happening there from one of our I-reporters. She's an American schoolteacher. She was in a classroom when that earthquake hit.
Ten minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Thirteen minutes past the hour right now. Again, these pictures just still astounding to see. Our coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan continues. And we're getting incredible video from the moment the tsunami hit the town of Miyako. You see that black wave of water washing over the sea walls, tipping over boats as if they're toys, cars bobbing up and down in the water. Just everything in the path of that wall of water destroyed -- Christine.
ROMANS: Here in Japan on high nuclear alert this morning. A second hydrogen explosion rocked the Fukushima Daiichi (ph) nuclear facility overnight triggering new fears of a radioactive catastrophe. The Fukushima plant sits about 170 miles north of Tokyo. Government officials insist the danger from the radiation released is minimal. Meantime, there are reports the cooling system at another reactor has failed. Joining us to talk about the potential threat from Japan's earthquake-damaged nuclear plants in Boston, Jim Walsh, an international security analyst and new CNN contributor.
Welcome to the program. What's happening inside these plants right now? They must be furiously trying to cool these fuel rods and prevent a meltdown of the core.
JIM WALSH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Exactly. That's precisely what they're doing, Christine. And as a result, they find themselves in a dilemma. As you pointed out, for the third reactor now, they've made the decision to dump sea water and boron into the reactor to try to cool it down because they can't get the cooling system to work, which is understandable.
Two consequences of that. One, that plant is dead. It's never going to run again. But more importantly, they find themselves in a cycle where if they dump in sea water to cool it down, that sea water begins to boil and then the vapor and pressure builds up within the reactor and then they have to open it up and vent some of that material out into the atmosphere. And if any of the reactor fuel has melted, then that vapor will have some of those radioactive particulates in it.
So they have to keep on dumping in water, then they have to keep on opening it up. That's where they vent out the pressure because it builds up and over and over again. And now we're on number three.
ROMANS: So the hydrogen gas explosion, that's - that's what they're venting to prevent more explosions within these reactors, I assume.
Now, what are they doing? Are they monitoring the air around so they can see what kind of nuclear material is in those vented gases and in those explosive gases? And what is that telling us?
WALSH: Yes. There are helicopters that are taking air samples. There are people on the ground taking samples. And what they're finding, unfortunately, is they're finding trace elements of cesium and iodine.
Now, the only way you get cesium and iodine in an air sample is if the fuel has been compromised. If the water level in one or more of those reactors has gone down low enough that it's exposed to the air and begins to melt, and that's clearly what's happened. The government suspects that has had happened in two of those reactors and obviously they're worried it might be happening in a third reactor, which is why we're getting the decision now to try to flood that one with sea water as well.
ROMANS: So flooding it with sea water, you say shows just how kind of dire situation this is. There's nothing salvageable on these plants. Now, they're trying to shut them down.
I mean, the earthquake is what caused the shutdown of the nuclear fission in the first place. But - but you can't just shut it off. And that's why you need the cooling, the external energy sources to keep this cooling process going, but then the tsunami buckled and hit that. I mean, it's almost - it's almost a perfect list of what could go wrong here.
WALSH: Yes. It's a big one-two punch. Because, normally if you're planning for this, you'd say, well, we're going to shut down the reactor because we anticipate an earthquake, but we'll have these backup electrical systems to be able to continue to run the cooling system, but then the tsunami takes that out. Then they brought in battery packs. Then they have at least at some of the facilities brought in external power sources. But once you do that, you discover that there are new problems, that the electrical cables are flooded, or that there are breaks in the pipes.
You know, all set of problems and they're having to do this all under crisis situation at multiple facilities -
ROMANS: Right.
WALSH: -- all at the same time. This is a huge challenge.
ROMANS: Jim, a 40-year-old facility, there are 23 facilities of this particular make in - in the United States. Do you think that there are questions or ramifications for this sort of - for these facilities elsewhere in the world? Or is this just such a specific set of challenges that there are no conclusions to be drawn?
WALSH: Well, I think number one, we don't know, Christine, and that's the question that we're going to be asking in the months and years ahead as they do evaluation and try to figure out exactly what happened, see the lessons learned and see if they can be applied elsewhere.
The U.S. is unlikely to face an 8.9 magnitude earthquake.
ROMANS: Right.
WALSH: But certainly there are other countries, I think of Iran (ph), for example, where there are nuclear power reactors built in earthquake zones. So I'm sure there will be lessons that we learn. But it's not over.
ROMANS: Right.
WALSH: You know, I still worry about these fuel ponds. There are still shoes left to drop here. But in every case, nuclear scientist engineers are going to be studying this and then trying to improve things back here.
ROMANS: Jim, define for me meltdown. I mean, you hear the word "meltdown" and people assume a worst-case scenario. Others say, look, this is not a Chernobyl-style disaster. This is not even a full- fledge meltdown. I mean, they're doing everything they can.
What - what is a meltdown? And is that a word that maybe isn't the best word to be using to describe what's happening technologically there at these facilities?
WALSH: Christine, great question. And you're absolutely right. I think, you know, radioactive, radiation - all these are words that engender fear to begin with. And then you hear meltdown and, you know, people understandably get nervous.
But what we really have is melting. This is a continuum. A full blown meltdown is when all the fuel rods melt. They congregate at the bottom of the reactor vessel. And then you get a criticality accident and the thing explodes. That's what happened in Chernobyl.
But Chernobyl did not have a containment vessel.
ROMANS: Right.
WALSH: You were talking, I think, to Stan (ph) earlier about this. They do not have a containment vessel. These power plants do have containment vessels.
Now, that's the last line of defense. You know, you don't want to run that experiment to see if they work or not, but at least there's something in place that hopefully would provide safety if the worst of the worst happened. But we are not at that point. We have had some melting. Some of the fuel rods have been exposed to air have started to melt. That's why we see cesium and iodine in those air samples.
But we are far from the Chernobyl style of complete meltdown. But, again, we don't want to even be in this place. So this is all serious stuff.
ROMANS: Right.
WALSH: It's not the ultimate bad - it's not the ultimate nightmare. But we are - we are the fact we can talk about that as a possibility is not a good thing. But, you know, everyone there on the ground is working as hard as they can to manage and contain the situation literally and metaphorically.
ROMANS: In the middle of another natural disaster, too, so that makes it even more difficult. All right. Jim Walsh, thank you so much for your perspective. Really appreciate it this morning. Thanks, Jim - Kiran.
WALSH: Thank you, Christine.
ROMANS: Tonight on -
Thanks, Jim.
On CNN, Anderson Cooper will be reporting live from Japan on the earthquake and the tsunami disaster at "AC 360" 10:00, Eastern Time right here on CNN.
To find out about ongoing efforts in Japan and how you can help the victims, visit our Impact Your World page at CNN.com/Impact - Kiran.
CHETRY: All right.
We'll have much more on the Japanese earthquake and the nuclear situation this morning. But we're also going to be bringing you some other news and including a tragic bus accident that happened over the weekend in New York, claiming the lives of 14 people. This company apparently had a history of problems. The bus company behind the crash had a run-in with the Feds before. We're going to have more on that.
Also coming up, P.J. Crowley is out as the State Department's Chief Spokesman after comments that reportedly infuriated the White House. We'll tell you what he said that led to his abrupt elimination.
It's 21 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour right now.
Just a tragic, tragic scene this weekend in New York City after this horrific bus crash that took place as a group of people were trying to come back from a casino. The New York bus company involved in this deadly crash that killed 14 people had - has apparently had troubles in the past.
According to government records, Bronx-based Worldwide Travel was in two accidents with injuries in the past two years. They've also been cited for, quote, "fatigued driving" five times. The driver, though, maintains that he was clipped by a truck and that that forced him to swerve, ended up overturning the bus and hit a - a highway sign. Anyway, witnesses say that he was speeding.
Police are going to be analyzing a camera in the bus and also GPS tracking devices from a tractor trailer who was behind the bus at the time to try to determine what went wrong.
ROMANS: Meanwhile, Central Oklahoma isn't out of danger yet. A state of emergency remains in effect for 77 counties there. Wildfires ripped through the state this weekend, destroying thousands of acres, dozens of homes. The fires caused widespread evacuation.
So far, 15 injuries have been reported in those Oklahoma wildfires.
CHETRY: And it has certainly been a tough winter and spring for parts of Northern New Jersey. The cleanup just beginning again after heavy rains early last week and then into the week caused rivers to swell and spill onto the banks. Some roads and towns literally looked more like lakes.
The flooding destroyed homes. Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate. And, again, they've had a really rough go of it.
ROMANS: Yes. Lots of roads still closed, people trying to figure out how to get around in a lot of the northeast here.
Next on AMERICAN MORNING, in just a few days Japan has been changed forever. Rob Marciano will have what Japan looked like before and after.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Minami Sanriku, Japan about three miles from the Pacific Ocean. Never in my career of covering natural disasters have I seen a town so utterly pulverized, just completely mowed down.
But this is not from the earthquake. This is from the tsunami.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That was our Gary Tuchman reporting there. We're still getting incredible images out of Japan, showing the sheer power and devastation of the tsunami.
CHETRY: It is amazing because you have to remember this is a country that is incredibly prepared for this kind of disaster. I mean, they're built to withstand earthquakes.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
CHETRY: And then to see what it looks like after that tsunami is mind blowing.
ROMANS: I know. To see those sort of images out of the world's third largest economy, a very modern, technologically advanced economy, shows you just how Mother Nature mowed over everything about, you know, civilized society.
CHETRY: I know.
ROMANS: Fantastic.
CHETRY: Billions and billions and billions of dollars to get back, eventually.
Meantime, our coverage will continue in just a minute. It's half past the hour. Time for a look at some other stories this morning.
Republicans and Democrats still cannot agree on how to keep government in business in the long-term. So, again, Congress is expected to pass another stop-gap funding bill this week known as the continuing resolution. It will keep the federal government from shutting down on Friday.
Meantime, negotiations on a budget for the current fiscal year still continue.
ROMANS: President Obama is weighing in on the politically and socially divisive issue of gun control. In an op-ed for an Arizona newspaper, the president acknowledged the role that guns play in America, while outlining a plan to reduce gun violence. He called for enforcing laws already on the books, rewarding states that provide the best data and making background checks faster. It's his first public comments on gun control since the Tucson shootings in January that left six dead, 13 others wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
CHETRY: P.J. Crowley resigning as State Department spokesman. Sources say he was pressured by the White House after suggesting that the administration was mistreating Army Private Bradley Manning. Now, Manning, you may remember, is being held in solitary confinement suspected of leaking highly classified State Department documents to the WikiLeaks Web site. Last week, Crowley said what's being done to Manning is, quote, "ridiculous and stupid."
ROMANS: Japan looks very different today than it did just a few days ago when the country was plunged into chaos and devastation that began with an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever recorded. But much of the damage has resulted not from the quake itself but from the massive tsunami that followed.
CNN's Rob Marciano taken a closer look at this this morning -- the Japan before and after. He joins us from Atlanta.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine. And, boy, those pictures, they just -- they're dumbfounding. They really look apocalyptic. And what you see on the ground and then what you see aboveground in some of these high-resolution satellite pictures that we have really hits home as well.
This is a shot of Sendai before the quake and tsunami brought to you by GOI, which is a high resolution satellite hovering above the earth, able to take some of these pictures. Now, after the earthquake and resulting tsunami, I mean, completely wiped out. I mean, we see similar pictures like this when we talk about a storm surge, you know, before and after. And for all intents and purposes, you're moving water from the ocean into a place it shouldn't be, and you've got a lot of force.
But with the tsunami, I mean, it's coming in a lot faster than a storm surge. So, the force is just so much more, the momentum is so much more. It goes so much further inland. And you see from the pictures, it's just unbelievable what the force of that water can do.
All right. The Sendai airport here, it is before. And, you know, it's really close to the water here. You know, it's less than half a mile from the shores of the Pacific and, boom, there it is. And even some of the runways still flooded out here when this picture was taken. So, that's pretty much completely destroyed.
Natori is near the airport, just south of Sendai, and right on the coastline, similar residential areas that are wiped out. And this kind of grassy area completely flooded. So, in some cases, when you get this water to move in, it doesn't drain out if it gets stuck in a low-lying area.
Ishinomaki is just north of Sendai. This is what it looked like before and this is what it looked like after. So, unbelievable, just a handful of buildings left. And most of those probably aren't going to be usable buildings any time in the near future.
All right. Briefly, what the weather looks like in Japan for Sendai -- 40 degrees today, or later today, with some rain expected. So, it couldn't -- it's not the best of weather. And it's chilly, 38 degrees tomorrow and 43 degrees on Thursday.
We will see drier weather as we get closer to the weekend. That certainly will help. But those overnight temperatures do get close to the freezing mark. So, that's not necessarily helping the cause there.
Guys, unbelievable pictures on the ground. It's really -- you know, we've been looking at them now for almost three days. And every day seems to be worse than the day before. And now seeing these from a scientific point of view from a different perspective certainly is mind blowing, as well.
Back to you.
ROMANS: All right. Rob Marciano, thanks. Those pictures are just incredible. And the cold weather just shows that for people finding shelter now, it's still pretty tough conditions. Thanks, Rob. We'll continue to follow it.
We're also following other news this morning, including the latest on Libya's civil war. Rebel forces retreating from a key eastern city, and now, the Arab League is preparing to ask the U.N. to enforce a no- fly zone, to keep Moammar Gadhafi from killing his own people.
CHETRY: Also, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is trying to impress voters in New Hampshire, but she made a historical misstep that has a lot of people talking this morning. We'll explain coming up.
Thirty-four minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: I'm going to bring you up-to-date right now on what's going on with Libya and the civil war there. Forces loyal to dictator Moammar Gadhafi have taken back control of the oil port city al-Brega. Opposition leaders are confirming that they have indeed pulled out of that city. They're calling it a tactical retreat. Meantime, the Arab League voting over the weekend to support a no-fly zone to protect Libyan citizens and they also plan to formally ask the United Nations Security Council to enforce that no-fly zone.
ROMANS: The uprising in Bahrain is escalating this morning after a weekend of violent clashes with police. The crown prince of Bahrain is expected to formally invite security forces from Saudi Arabia into his country today. On Sunday, thousands of protesters cut off Bahrain's financial center and overwhelmed police who were trying to remove them from the capital's central square.
CHETRY: Well, three weeks after fleeing Wisconsin, 14 AWOL Democratic senators have finally returned to Madison. And even though they lost the bruising battle with Governor Scott Walker and Republicans, they were cheered this weekend by thousands of pro-union demonstrators as they returned to Madison. Wisconsin Democrats have already launched a massive phone campaign, as well, where they're trying to get enough report to recall several Republican lawmakers who voted to limit the collective bargaining rights of the state's employees.
ROMANS: Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann making her first campaign-style visit to New Hampshire. But it's what she said that maybe be the defining moments. During the speech, the Tea Party favorite suggested the revolutionary war began in New Hampshire rather than Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: Here in the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Bachmann later corrected herself writing on her Facebook page, "It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened."
Now, New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it.
It's 38 minutes past the hour.
Rob's going to have the morning's travel forecast.
CHETRY: Also, we're going to be having another story about sleep because we're obsessed with it on this show. Is it genetic mutation or a genetic blessing? Some people can naturally lose precious hours of sleep and never lose their ability to function.
ROMANS: Is that you?
CHETRY: Absolutely not.
ROMANS: We'll have that story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 6:41 on the East Coast.
Short on sleep is not a problem for a few of us anyway. You know, we sprung ahead an hour this weekend, but it turns out not everyone dreads Daylight Savings Time, Kiran. Scientists say they've identified natural short sleepers, people who actually have a gene mutation which allows them to function on less sleep. So, the recommended seven or eight hours isn't a must. Instead four hours can do the trick.
But experts warned, of course, that sleep deprivation can cause fatigue, poor performance, and health problems in the rest of us.
CHETRY: Yes, it can. I was laughing because you and I both have little ones. I mean, that morning time, technically, I -- we fast forwarded through an hour of craziness.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: So, it wasn't that all bad for us.
ROMANS: That's true.
CHETRY: Usually you have to find something to do with them three hours before church, now it was only two.
ROMANS: Who said seven or eight hours of sleep before having kids?
CHETRY: I can't remember those days.
ROMANS: Yes, exactly.
CHETRY: Well, it's 42 minutes past the hour. We got a check of the weather headlines this morning with Jennifer Delgado. She's in the extreme weather center for us.
Hey, Jennifer.
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi there. You're right.
And let's talk about the weather for today. We are going to see some storms out there. And currently, we're tracking some right on the radar.
I want to show you what we're looking at right now. Notice what's moving through parts of Missouri as well as through Arkansas, a line of strong storms. That means, potentially, you're going to see some delays if you're going to be driving through parts of Little Rock, as well as up towards northern and southern parts of Arkansas.
And up to the north and in addition to this rain, wouldn't you know it, we are dealing with snow out there and that snow is spreading in just to the west of St. Louis. You can see through Jefferson City, but it's also streaming all the way back along Interstate 70, out towards Kansas City. You can see even towards areas including Topeka.
Now, we're not expecting a lot of snow but we're talking anywhere between about one to two inches of snowfall. We have the winter weather advisory in place for some of these locations. But no warnings in place and that is the good news.
Now, as I widen the view up for you, I want to show we are going to see some sunshine out there. Up toward the North, expect sunny skies, up towards the Upper Mississippi Valley, down towards the Southwest.
Now, for today, as I said, we're going to be dealing with the stormy conditions and the chance for some hail as well as gusty winds. But as that ridge of high pressure starts to shift over towards the east, we're going to start to see improvement over towards the midsection. And then that means rain moving in towards the Northeast. I know you saw flooding video coming out of New Jersey earlier. So, today, we're going to be dry, but we will see another chance of rain moving into parts of New Jersey where they're dealing with that major flooding and that means that rain arriving on Wednesday.
Christine, we'll send it back over to you.
CHETRY: Wow! They can't get a break in New Jersey.
DELGADO: They can't.
CHETRY: All right. Jennifer, thanks so much.
ROMANS: All right. Americans stuck in the middle of the chaos and destruction in Japan. We have one story of survival. Our Paula Hancocks joins us live from Ishinomaki, Japan. She's with Steve Corbett, a teacher from Irvine, California, who's been working in Japan for three years now.
Good morning, Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Christine.
Well, we are in the town and we are at the school at this point, which is doubling up as a shelter. There's about 1,000, maybe 2,000 people inside. And one of those people as you say is Steve Corbett, an American teacher who I actually met just outside the hospital.
So, Steve, if you can say to us what happened to you.
STEVE CORBETT, TEACHER IN JAPAN: Well, when the earthquake struck, I was in my car. I was in the parking lot, thankfully. It was extremely severe, so everyone stopped their cars, people came out of buildings and it looked as if buildings were going to fall over and people tried to flee the area.
I turned on my radio, it said evacuate to high ground there was a tsunami coming. It was going to strike the, I guess, state in which we are. Within the next five minutes and it was going to be six meters higher, and so, I kind of just thought, go.
And I drove to the top of the hill, waited there for a few hours, it started snowing, and we didn't really have food, so we went down to try to get food, and had a little bit of communication, so I could find out where a few of my friends were. That's how I knew to come to this school.
HANCOCKS: So, what was going through your mind as all this was going on?
CORBETT: Initially, I thought I was a goner, and I thought all my friends were gone. And it really seemed a lot worse, believe it or not, than it actually was. I just thought to get safe, and I didn't even think of supplies or anything. I just tried to get out of the area, and then I was able to calm down a little bit and talk to some people who fled to the same place and sort of settled down.
HANCOCKS: So, you're here as an English teacher. You've been here in (INAUDIBLE) for three years, and now, you're staying in this middle school. I mean, what are conditions like here? Obviously, it's a shelter, but what is it like?
CORBETT: They're doing the best they can to keep it clean. There are a lot of different people running around doing different tasks. I guess, they're bringing water to clean the toilets. They're trying to keep the facilities up to the best standards they can, but it's not really working so well. I mean --
HANCOCKS: Do you have food and water?
CORBETT: We have food and water. The government or other businesses bring food and water pretty much daily, maybe couple of times a day, and usually, we have enough for everyone.
HANCOCKS: Now, you're saying that you're trying to find all of your friends at this point. I mean, have you managed to? And what sort of help is the embassy giving?
CORBETT: The embassy is start pack (ph) a little bit, kind of control (ph) where everyone was, and I think they're getting a survey, trying to see where they need to go before they can get all the people here. I think they just came with a few people in one truck or something like that. Friends, initially, we thought it's going to be about 50 percent you'd be able to find, but it's really starting to turn out to look more like 75 to 90. So, we're pretty optimistic, and people come in day by day, and we have big hugs and try to gather information.
HANCOCKS: Excellent. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Steve Corbett, here in the northeastern part of Japan. He also spoke to his mom for the first time earlier on this evening. So, certainly, one very happy woman in America -- Christine.
ROMANS: Paula Hancocks and Steve Corbett, thank you so much for telling that story.
CHETRY: We just got a little news alert that's quite interesting right now coming to us from Reuters that the Japan atomic power says that the quake hit a Dayni (ph) plant. This is another one, not the one that we've been talking about.
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ROMANS: Another complex.
CHETRY: Yes. It's expected to be safely cooled down by tomorrow afternoon. So, at least, some good news as we've been talking about a lot of the concerns about these hydrogen explosions taking place in these plants.
ROMANS: And that they're looking for safe cool downs and shutdowns of these facilities.
Coming up in our next hour, a nuclear emergency in Japan. Two plants we've been telling you about are in trouble. Communities in exposed to radiation. Sanjay Gupta is live in Japan with details.
CHETRY: Also, the earthquake that struck Japan was the third in a series of tremors that has some fearing California could be next. We're going to take a look at just how at risk we are for something similar happening in the United States.
Also coming up next, we talked to a young woman who had captured some stunning images in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake and tsunami. She was in Japan. She's teaching there, and we're going to join her live next. Forty-eight minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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CHETRY: Even though, in Japan, they prepare from very young age to deal with earthquakes, you still see and hear some of the surprise from that huge quake that hit this past week. All from their camera, to your eyes, iReporters have been capturing the stunning images of the quake itself and the aftermath of the quake and tsunami.
Like these photos from 24-year-old Sarah Feinerman. This picture shows a road that was literally split apart in front of a police station. This morning, Sarah is in Ibaraki. It's about 70 miles north of Tokyo. She's joining us on Skype. Good morning, Sarah.
SARAH FEINERMAN, EARTHQUAKE EYEWITNESS: Good morning.
CHETRY: So, you've been there for 3 1/2 years, you teach. What was it like when you were in the classroom and this quake hit?
FEINERMAN: It was -- well, at first, it wasn't all that bad. We get -- we literally get earthquakes all the time over here, which is rather interesting. And so, at first, nobody reacted, and then it just kept going and getting stronger and stronger, and it didn't stop. And they're supposed to stop usually, and this one didn't stop. So, that was very different.
CHETRY: And what was the reaction of the other teachers, of you, of the students? I mean, was it chaotic or was it calm?
FEINERMAN: Never chaotic. It's very Japanese. Everyone -- a couple of the teachers stood up and they said, oh, should we open the windows? I don't know. Should we open the doors? I don't know, and then, they kept going and going and going, like, OK, we're opening the windows until I threw up in one of the doors and I just stood there in the middle of the room while the, you know, room shifted, and that was very exciting.
I handled it terribly, but everyone else was very calm and relaxed. It was very interesting.
CHETRY: And so, did you receive any, you know, emergency instructions. I mean, did authorities tell you what to do at that point? Or were you sort of on your own at that point? FEINERMAN: It was very self-sufficient. The principal told me to get out of the middle of the room, and I'm like, oh, yes. I wait and I hold the flagpole for a little while, and then, they had me joined the rest of the kids who had evacuated to the front, and they're sitting in the little lines and little groups and some of the girls were crying, yes, but there was no like big like emotion of, oh, the world is ending.
CHETRY: Right. You said that some of the tears were more for concern about their relatives and their homes, making sure that was happening -- they were safe where you guys were. You also showed us some very interesting photos. People lined up for water at city hall in one of the photos. And then, also, you can see the empty shelves at some of the convenience stores. What is the situation right now in terms of getting supplies?
FEINERMAN: Things have -- well, not vastly improved, but there's been a change. This morning, actually, the drugstore next to my house was only open for three hours, but for the first time in four days, they had bread. And that was exciting. Things are slowly improving, but the convenience stores are still completely stripped and no one --
CHETRY: You also mentioned -- so, are you OK getting food and water?
FEINERMAN: I wouldn't -- surviving is a good way to describe it. There's still no water, and so, we all still have to queue at city hall who wants to make (ph) their big jags, but food is vaguely available. There's no more instant food, but actually, there was a grocery store that had chicken and fish and stuff this morning. So, that was really exciting to wait an hour for it, but you can get an awesome real food that's not peanut (ph).
CHETRY: You certainly have a good attitude about it. Any plans to leave? Any plans to come home?
FEINERMAN: No, actually. I'm doing fine. I actually want to stay if I can. That's my next plan, actually, is trying to get a group together. I want to go volunteer somewhere in Northern Ibaraki and see if we can help people start cleaning up.
CHETRY: When you take a look at the pictures, an enormous amount of damage. The number of dead also growing. So, it is such a difficult situation there. We're glad that you gave us your firsthand perspective and that you got through it OK. Sarah Feinerman, thanks so much for joining us this morning and good luck.
FEINERMAN: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Sarah Feinerman, she still has an upbeat outlook after going through such a huge event.
CHETRY: I know.
ROMANS: We're going to have more on the conditions and the nuclear center and the north of the country and also latest pictures for you coming up right after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
