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American Morning

Is California Ready for the Big One?; Japan: Before and After; Second Blast Rocks Fukushima Plant; Relief and Aid for Japan

Aired March 14, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Two nuclear facilities in Japan are now compromised. Dangerous radiation levels recorded at one of them. Thousands have been told to stay inside their homes while hundreds of bodies begin washing up onshore. A growing crisis, a mounting death toll on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. It's Monday, March 14th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Christine Romans.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We're following a latest from Japan today. 7:00 a.m. on the East Coast. It's 8:00 p.m. in Tokyo right now, and we're getting a better look at the full scope of the devastation of the earthquake and the tsunami. It's becoming clearer this morning. It's a new day, and there are also new fears of nuclear concerns. Overnight, another explosion took place at the Fukushima Daiichi 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 in his country since World War II. In the worst hit areas, hundreds of thousands of people are in need. There are long lines for gas, there are long lines for water, and at food stores, people are also waiting. There is a shortage of food and water.

ROMANS: There's also an overwhelming sense of despair. Losses from the quake and tsunami could total $100 billion, making it one of the most expensive natural disasters in history, but right now, teams of researchers and search dogs from across the globe are still scouring a wet and muddy wasteland. The U.S. military is there. This morning, the USS Ronald Reagan and other navy ships, they had to be moved after detecting a radioactive plume, and as the hours tick by, the losses mount.

According to the National Police Agency, more than 1,800 people have died, but there are expectations quite frankly that number could exceed 10,000 as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas. More than 2,300 are missing. Nearly 2,000 now are being treated for injuries.

CHETRY: In the coastal city of Higashi-Matsushima, it's in northeast Japan, police have just made some gruesome discoveries. Hundreds of bodies.

ROMANS: And the number of dead could climb a lot higher because hundreds are still missing. Frankly that number could exceed 10,000 as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas. More than 2,300 are missing, nearly 2,000 now are being treated for injuries.

CHETRY: In the coastal city of Higashi in northeast Japan, police have just made some gruesome discoveries, hundreds of bodies.

ROMANS: And the number of dead could climb higher because hundreds are missing. CNN's Soledad O'Brien has made her way to Higashi. She joins us live this morning. Good morning, Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the center where a lot of the damage took place. It's 8:00 p.m. our time, which means here in Japan, which means it was warmer around 60 degrees earlier today. But now it's cold. And the people aren't here. There's no power, there's no heat, no food, they've moved some of the evacuation centers about five kilometers away.

But they come out in the afternoon after the sun comes up to start digging through belongings and see if they can recover anything, in some cases still looking for their loved ones who are missing. We took a walk through one of these neighborhoods and saw sort of the range that comes out in the afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: We're in the middle of a town an hour drive outside of Sendai, and as you head north it gets colder and much more rural. This is a town made up of mostly farmers and people who are fishermen. And you can see some of the cattle has gotten loose and has been wandering some of the streets and around the houses.

One thing to remember, about a kilometer passed those cows those cows I s where the sea is, running into some of the residences and structures. What we have seen today are some members of the self- defense force, and we're told they're here helping do recovery, because for some of the people in these homes in the front with the little time they had, there wasn't much time to get to higher land as you can see and the devastation is pretty much near 100 percent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: People in this neighborhood said that they had just about 15 minutes to the try to get to the third floor of an elementary school not very far from here. A little bit of a hike because it's an elderly population, so very difficult for some people to be able to make it out of their homes and to the elementary school and the top floor before the tsunami came in between the earthquake happening and then the tsunami happening.

And a little bit earlier today, we had a similar experience in the sense of getting tsunami warnings. We all started to grab our stuff and run. Really unclear about what was going to hit, was it going to hit, and how hard it would hit. As you're sort of gathering everything and running, it's amazing how just terrifying it is.

So in addition to the concerns about search and rescue trying to recover bodies and also the nuclear power problems we talked about, for people here, it's their future. Elderly population, the farming, the fishing boats are gone, the farming is ruined for at least -- one farmer told me three years in the way to harvest those rice patties. There's oil mixed in some places. They're really not clear about their next days, months, years ahead.

ROMANS: Soledad, you make a great point about the elderly population, as well. Demographers call Japan a graying nation because 20 percent of the residents are senior citizens. That makes recovery and rebound from this disaster unique, I think. And that also makes, you know, telling people to evacuate, telling people, taking care of people. It makes it a unique challenge, the elderly component. It's not something we usually see in natural disasters.

O'BRIEN: There's no question about that. The number of people we met today who would tell me we're missing a parent, and this is someone in their mid-60s, saying I'm here to clean up after my parent.

And it's one of the reasons it was so hard for people to make it to evacuation centers. It's a good clip away. You would have to be able to -- after an earthquake, make your way quickly to an evacuation center and climb three flights of stairs. If you're in your mid-80s, it's not going to happen.

ROMANS: We've seen some of those pictures of people carrying elderly on their shoulders holding on to their hands and carrying them as they're trying to get where they're going. It's just really heartbreaking stuff. We'll talk you again later. Thank you for your report. Kiran?

CHETRY: Christine, we've been talking a lot this morning about the nuclear concerns taking place. First of all, this is Japan, and all of these highlighted circles are areas where there's been seismic activity in the past week. So it's not unusual in Japan, but Friday's 8.9 magnitude quake in Japan, that was a different story, the hardest hit, one of the top five.

So let's take you down here and show you exactly where we're talking about some of the concerns that one of the nuclear facilities -- the quake hit about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. And the closest city was Sendai, as you know about, and a port.

It was the fifth strongest earthquake ever recorded in the world, and this was where it hit. One of the concerns was the nuclear site. Here was the nuclear site there was a lot of concern over where the reactors were crippled. Water as tall as a house came across this area and, of course, that is what led to the problem at the nuclear plant in Fukushima. It wasn't the actual earthquake itself, but the resulting tsunami.

The operating reactors automatically shut down, but there were problems in the cooling systems. In one of the cooling systems, number one, there was a problem. And in number three, another problem. So because these reactors failed, they went into what was called partial meltdown, not enough electricity to continue to run the cooling system. So scientists and technicians have begun to try to control by actually dumping the sea water. This is the sea water in this area into it. The concern, of course, is radiation from the plants, as well. The government said there's absolutely no possibility of a Chernobyl type accident. This is where an explosion took place, blowing the roof off one of those reactors of the nuclear plant.

So again, these are hydrogen explosions taking place, not nuclear explosions, but the bottom line is they have to find a way to get these back online and be able to continue to cool them as they work toward shutdown or keeping them cool or running.

ROMANS: Our guest earlier made the point, it's not necessarily called a meltdown, but it's melting, and they're trying to get control of the melting in the core. And that seems to be the issue and that's why you're having the hydrogen gases released on purpose.

It's difficult to determine just how close Japan has come to a nuclear catastrophe. Many of the residents in the northeast part of the country are reportedly near panic fearing radiation poisoning on top of the devastation that has taken so many homes, countless lives. Our chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta is on the ground at a refugee camp about 90 minutes north of Sendai. Hi there, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, you're absolutely right, Christine. Let me point out one other thing, as well. When you're talking about the seawater being used now to cool these plants in addition to boric acid, it's sort of a Hail Mary is what we're hearing from people on the ground, meaning the sea water can be so corrosive it may shut down the plant. It may make it difficult for the plant to come back online. So this is obviously a big deal.

But this concern about radiation, this anxiety about radiation has compounded obviously in addition to the people being asked to evacuate. Compounded situations like the one you see behind me, this is one of the refugee centers that Soledad was talking about.

One thing I found really interesting is this is a school. This is the gymnasium of a school. I don't know how well you can make that out. But schools typically built at higher elevation, and they're typically built with stricter building codes to try to be able to avoid one of the worst consequences of a disaster like this.

Both the earthquake that was able to withstand and the flood waters of the tsunami, and so many people came here. It was a very coordinated thing. People actually know where to go in the aftermath of a disaster like this.

But now you have hundreds of people over here behind me. They were getting food from the supermarkets in the local area. That is starting to run out. But now they're relying on the good will of the volunteers. It's unclear how much that will last.

But to your point, Christine, anxiety about radiation, people from as far as 50 kilometers away coming to a place like this, and obviously just the loss of their homes compounding the situation even further. ROMANS: All right, Sanjay we'll check in with you later, thanks.

CHETRY: A lot going on. And the ripple effects are felt very wide, across the world, in fact. And we're watching the economic aftershocks. Carmen Wong-Ulrich with more on the situation. How are the markets doing?

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CORRESPONDENT: Not too surprising. The Nikkei, of course, is down. They're down about six percent, even after the bank of Japan pledged to inject 15 trillion yen into the economy to calm investors.

Now, in the ripple effect of the markets around the world, however, this is really mixed. At home, Dow futures are down slightly. Markets in London and Hong Kong are up slightly after a negative Friday last week as investors do a little bargain hunting.

Now, for Japanese automakers, here's the thing. The damage hasn't been so much direct to the plant as indirect. Now, due to rolling blackouts to conservative energy, an inability to get the cars off the island, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have all shut down plants for at least a week.

Honda plants are not going to reopen until the 20th. Our most important Japanese imports are made in the U.S., but other popular models such as the Prius, Scion, and Honda fit are going to end up on a short supply this summer.

CHETRY: So it's amazing to think what a technological powerhouse this country is, what an export powerhouse is. Right now the entire focus is on search, rescue, and recovery.

ULRICH: We're looking at Honda especially and Toyota, they make about 40 percent of their cars there and export globally 40 percent. But about half of that comes to us, comes to us. They need to conservative energy right now. That's why the plants can't get up and running yet.

CHETRY: You were mentioning last week about how the market is higher. There's more demand for the hybrid cars because the rise in gas prices.

ULRICH: And prices have been hit by this.

CHETRY: Thanks, Carmen.

ULRICH: Thank you

ROMANS: There have been a lot of earthquakes in the past 13 months in the ring of fire. Could California be next? And how would that state cope? We'll be joined by the acting secretary of the emergency management agency.

CHETRY: Also dozens of countries are trying to ramp up relief efforts to Japan. We'll have a live report from one of the emergency crews headed there. It's 12 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Fifteen minutes past the hour. The earthquake that rocked Japan on Friday was the latest in a series of major tremors along what's known as the Pacific Rim's "ring of fire." Here's a look at what we're talking about.

Over the past 13 months, there have been major earthquakes in Japan. You remember Christchurch, New Zealand, recently, and also Chile. So far, the west coast of the United States is the only fault line, I guess you could say, in that ring of fire plate that has not been affected yet. But could California be next? And will we be prepared for any worst-case scenario?

Joining me now from Sacramento, California, this morning is Mike Dayton. He's the acting secretary for California's Emergency Management Agency.

Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

MIKE DAYTON, ACTING SECRETARY, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Hey, good morning, Kiran.

CHETRY: There's a --

DAYTON: Thank you for having me on.

CHETRY: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks for joining us this morning, getting up early for us.

I want to ask you about this concern that California would likely be next. When you take a look at the map, they talk about these three corners of this Pacific plate and, of course, California hits -- it's the one that has not seen a major earthquake in this century. How concerned are you about the potential for a quake this magnitude to hit?

DAYTON: Well, we're always concerned. We're not, you know, unduly alarmed. We know California is an earthquake-prone state. That's why we take preparations so seriously in California. You know, we put a lot of effort into catastrophic planning in the Bay area and a lot of effort in catastrophic planning in Southern California.

CHETRY: The San Andreas fault they say is due to rupture one day. I mean, obviously, you guys don't get a ton of warning about this. But it last did in 1906. And they say that, you know, there are unimaginable consequences to those who live above it. How prepared would we be, let's say, today for a major quake to happen at the San Andreas fault?

DAYTON: Well, we are prepared. I think -- I mean, obviously, when you're dealing with a quake of the magnitude that we see in Japan, that is a very large, unusually large quake. And as you alluded to earlier the Pacific Rim, the ring of fire, has been unusually active for the past few years. So we're working closely with the geologists and the nuclear engineers to say, hey, is this something that we should -- I mean, is there a change in science? Because we are planning right now to the best science out there as we have done in the past. But California communities are prepared for a catastrophe. Unfortunately, in California, we are very disaster prone. We either have floods, fires, or earthquakes.

CHETRY: Right.

DAYTON: That's what California, unfortunately, we go through routinely and we prepare for it.

CHETRY: I lived out there for a couple of years, and you can't listen to a traffic report without hearing retrofitting work taking place on this bridge or this span. I mean, obviously, ever since 1989 when the quake hit San Francisco, there have been retrofitting efforts, many of them taking decades, though. I mean, are most large structures sufficiently either built to code to withstand an earthquake like this or retrofitted to do so?

DAYTON: Well, I would say the greater percentage of the buildings are. But it's important to really know and the public should know that, I mean, when you're talking about building codes, it's earthquake resistant. It's not earthquake proof. And you're talking about, you know, probabilities. So that's really why -- we want the public to be partners with us in California. We're trying to build a culture of preparedness in California. The governor's committed to that. And it's really about taking personal responsibility and being prepared to be on your own for 72 hours. So if you are separated from your family, if you work in the Bay area, or if you work in L.A. and you start out in the morning, you're going to be away from your family. So we want you to think about what is your plan for a disaster if it happens when you're at work, what's your plan for reuniting with your family, taking care of them, and what your plan for your pets. So --

CHETRY: Yes, you're right. Everybody should be thinking about that. The chance is low, but it's certainly there. And it's a big concern as we've seen in Japan. And they're one of the most prepared in the world when it comes to this.

Mike Dayton, acting secretary of California's Emergency Management Agency, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

DAYTON: Thank you. Appreciate it.

CHETRY: Well, be sure to tune in to CNN tonight. Anderson Cooper is live. He has reports from the quake zone in Japan, 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Also, to find out more about the ongoing relief efforts and what you can do to help if you'd like, visit our Impact Your World page at CNN.com/impact.

ROMANS: In Libya, rebel forces taking a big hit this morning. Government troops have driven them out of a key city. And now, Arab nations are calling on the U.N. to help stop Moammar Gadhafi.

CHETRY: And P.J. Crowley sacked at the State Department and what he said that had senior administration officials quite angry.

It's 20 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: In Libya's bloody civil war, forces loyal to dictator Moammar Gadhafi have taken back control of the oil port city Al-Brega. Opposition leaders are confirming they've pulled out. They're calling it a tactical retreat.

Meanwhile, the Arab League voted over the weekend to support a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians and plans to formally ask the U.N. Security Council to enforce one.

CHETRY: New details this morning about that horrific bus crash over the weekend in New York City. Fourteen people killed after the bus on its way back from a casino smashed through a guardrail, skidded on its side along the ground for 480 feet. It was a gruesome scene as rescuers tried to help the people that were injured. Many already dead.

Government records show that the Bronx-based bus company Worldwide Travel was involved in two accidents with injuries in the past two years. They've also been cited for fatigued driving five different times. Now the driver claims he was swiped by a truck forcing him to crash. They have not found any evidence of that yet, but they are looking. Witnesses, though, say that the driver was swerving at dangerous speeds. Police are going to be trying to piece this together by analyzing a camera on the bus, using GPS tracking devices from a tractor trailer that was behind it and also taking in accounts from witnesses. But what a tragedy.

ROMANS: It's just horrific.

Meanwhile, in the Garden State, soaked, continuing to be soaked. Today, northern New Jersey begins its cleanup. Heavy rains early last week caused rivers to swell, spill on to the banks. The water gushing into the streets, destroying homes, taking out cars. Hundreds of people forced to evacuate New Jersey.

CHETRY: Republicans and Democrats still can't agree on how to keep the federal government in business for the long term. So now, Congress is expected to again pass a stopgap funding bill by the Friday deadline. That keeps the government running until April 8th. Meantime, they're still negotiating on a budget for the current fiscal year. Those negotiations continue to drag on.

ROMANS: All right. Next on AMERICAN MORNING, in just a few days, Japan has been changed forever. Our Rob Marciano on what Japan looked like before and then after those devastating water.

CHETRY: And also, the rescue and recovery effort. International aid is pouring into Japan, but it is a tough road to travel. We're going to have a live report from one of the emergency crews making their way to the disaster zone.

It's 25 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: We're looking at these images still coming out of Japan that show a country that has vastly changed over the past few days. It looks very different today than just a few days ago when it was struck first by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake. One of the strongest ever recorded, and then by the tsunami that followed.

CHETRY: Yes. I mean, just looking at the earth there just moving, the sidewalk literally split, and now this wall of water that whipped through the towns because of that tsunami. Much of the damage resulted from this, not the quake itself.

CNN's Rob Marciano is taking a closer look at all of this this morning, the before and after. And one of the things that really startled us is they said that Japan actually moved several feet because of this earthquake?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Eight feet is what they calculated. The actual tectonic plates that Japan and the rest of the world sit on, the one that -- the ones that aren't activated, North American plate and the Pacific plate actually shifted almost 60 feet. And then you've probably heard that the earth's axis once again, much like the Chilean quake moved, as well. So a tremendous, tremendous event. Obviously this is a dynamic world that we live in, continues to boggle the mind as to what can happen when you get one of these massive plates to shift and the resulting tsunami.

And what that did, as you mentioned, that's what caused most of the damage. Because this was like, you know, a storm surge times 100 as far as the amount of water, the amount of force, and momentum that this thing had coming onshore. And areas like Sendai, at least along the coastline, right at sea level, really, really flat, looking like this on this GOI picture. High resolution shot before. And then we go -- this is right along the coast and boom, that area completely wiped out.

Now Sendai is a huge city. So there are parts further inland that are virtually untouched. And folks are OK, although albeit without power and supplies. But near the coastline, which is where the Sendai Airport is, you went from this on a normal day where people are getting on the planes and boarding to fly somewhere to the airport completely being inundated. In some cases, runways still having water on them because it's a low area and that water is unable to drain.

Near Sendai Airport to the south of Sendai is Natori. This is what it looked like before. Residential and businesses here, some farming areas here and those farming areas like the rice patties and such still flooded with water. Now, you do want to keep the rice patties flooded, but not with salt water and not for that long and all the other contaminants that are related in there.

Ishinomaki, this is north of Sendai, a community of about 150,000, 200,000 people, mostly a fishing community. This is what it looked like before and boom this is what it looked like after. So remarkable stuff here. So we've been seeing the pictures coming to us on the ground. And it looks like something out of a movie. I can't imagine having been there while all that went down. Certainly frightening. And then to think about how much that earth shifted underneath.

And as we mentioned, 59 feet is what we think the plates moved and the island of Japan moving east by eight feet. This is the result.

By the way, Jennifer Delgado from the CNN International Department is up here helping out. She will be along with your travel forecast. And by the way, the forecast for Japan looks a little bit nasty. We've got some cold rain coming in for this area over the next 48 hours. So we'll have that to contend with, as well. Guys.

CHETRY: And quickly, they also say that the earth's axis shifted four inches. That's alarming, as well. It's not no big deal.

MARCIANO: It's not as big of a deal as you think. I mean because we had a similar shift when the Chilean quake happened. And you know, again, you've got to remember we live in a dynamic earth, the orbit around the sun isn't completely circular or - and when you think about other things like the magnetic field, that's constantly changing. So everything around us constantly changes, but the scope of this thing typically change very, very slow. And when you have an event like this, what typically will change on a very, very slow scale it changes quickly. And everything that comes along with it, we've been saying.

CHETRY: Yes, it certainly reminds us we're at the mercy of mother nature. No matter how we'd like to think we control our world. All right. Thanks so much, Rob.

MARCIANO: OK, guys.

CHETRY: Checking our top stories now. New fears about a potential nuclear disaster in Japan after a second explosion rocked the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. 11 people injured in that blast. But officials say that no dangerous radiation leaks were detected. The cooling system at another one of the Fukushima reactors failed. In the meantime, Japan's atomic power officials say that the quake hit plant Tokai Daini is expected to be safely cooled down by tomorrow morning.

ROMANS: With each passing hour in Japan, the devastation mounts, the nation's national police agency confirms more than 1,800 people have died, expectations are that number could go a lot higher, perhaps exceeding 10,000 deaths as rescuers reach more hard hit areas, they are finding more bodies. More than 2,300 people are listed as missing and nearly 2,000 are being treated for injuries.

CHETRY: Food and fuel in short supply across the earthquake zone. Long lines at the few gas stations that are open. Grocery shelves are empty, as you can see from these pictures. And there are long lines for food and water at the distribution centers like city hall.

ROMANS: Our Soledad O'Brien joins us now from the coastal city of Higashimatsuyama in northeast Japan. And police there say they've just made a gruesome discovery. Hundreds of bodies and hundreds more residents are missing. Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Yes, you know, it's consistent with the damage that we have seen here. They've had earthquake damage, of course, but even more severe than that is a tsunami that followed. And that is what has wiped many of the homes just early off their foundations. Did a lot of damage here. So a lot of the people here are about five kilometers away at an evacuation center. And in fact, earlier today we spent some time at that evacuation center.

And you could see lines there, as well. Lines for people as they brought in some food so they gathered the food to bring in, also lines to get water, and they create this big communal sort of dipping pot for water. You know, and it's really, I think, very challenging for people who in many cases are still looking for their loved ones. One of the things we noticed is people would put up room numbers in their names. So they can start helping to trace, here's a family who could be found in this particular room for people to come by and look and see if they can figure out where their loved ones might be. Emotionally very, very difficult.

We spoke to an elderly gentleman named Toshiro Obatu who had come to that evacuation center in the hopes of finding some of his family members. Here's what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does he think happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator): He thinks perhaps they are probably somewhere safe.

O'BRIEN: What makes him have no doubt?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So a different - he found her over at another evacuation center this morning. That's why he feels there's no doubt he'll find the two that are missing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: He was incredibly hopeful, but the reality for many people is that hope has run out. We ran into other people who had come out to clean out their parents' home after discovering their body. The parents had died in the tsunami. They weren't able to get out in time. It's a neighborhood full of elderly people. And even though there was a little bit of time between the earthquake happening and the alarms going off for the tsunami and time to get to a location high off the ground, three stories up at the elementary school for someone in their 80s, that's - it just very, very difficult, impossible in some cases. And so what people are dealing with today is sort of a short-term immediate loss. Water, food, how do you get supplies? And then also long-term. What happens to the livelihoods, especially in neighborhoods just like this along the coast. Back to you guys.

ROMANS: And so Soledad, is there power where you are? Are there rolling blackouts across the country. For many of the evacuees, they are going to places where there still is no power, am I right?

O'BRIEN: You know, it's not the rolling blackouts that's the problem. Obviously we brought generators. The power problem is that there's nothing here. There's no way to have any power. So there's no one even here to live in homes if there were to be power. They've all moved out of the way. So for - we've seen a lot of places where there is just no power at this point and no heat and no fuel for the heat. So it's a really pretty bad situation for them.

ROMANS: I meant the evacuation centers. You know, if people are being evacuated to places where there's still are not very many fundamental services. Once evacuated, it's still a clear challenge.

O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly.

ROMANS: Soledad O'Brien. Thanks, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Exactly right.

CHETRY: So as we saw from Soledad, I mean, the need is great for help and for relief. And people are trying to do it and dozens of countries are lending their hands to support Japan. But it is a long road to recovery. And we have a live report from a member of one of the emergency crews headed there right after the break.

It's 37 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Dozens of countries sending relief and aid to Japan. The U.S. military also there by air, sea, and land sending supplies and search teams to the most ravaged regions. Michelle Jackson, the emergency response manager for AmeriCare joins us live on the phone from Tokyo.

I'm assuming at this point there must be an awful lot of coordination between governments and non-governmental organizations and charities like yours to make sure you're getting to the right place. Tell me what's happening.

MICHELLE JACKSON, EMERGENCY RESPONSE MANAGER, AMERICARE (ON THE PHONE): Yes, exactly. I got in last night and spent today coordinating with our local team and connecting with a lot of the big players here. So, you know, (INAUDIBLE) is a disaster response organization. We have 30 years of experience responding to disasters. And we're just coming off the responses of Haiti and Chile and are now working in Japan with the Japanese government and it takes a lot of coordination to really help - help the system here. We're coordinating with local NGOs and the government.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Michelle, you mentioned Haiti and Chile. Those are very different conditions in Haiti and Chile compared with Japan. Japan is a country that is incredibly prepared for these sorts of events. Who can ever really be prepared for an 8.9 magnitude earthquake? So you have a country, that is essentially a rich country with great infrastructure yet it still devastated here. What about the differences between the fact that this is a developed country that has a very, I guess, profound system for safety and for alerts in this kind of events?

JACKSON: Yes, exactly. So like the U.S., I mean, the Japanese are very, very prepared for this kind of disaster. But like the U.S., the hospitals that we're seeing in these areas, they have contingency stocks of medical supplies. But it's really a question of how quickly the stocks dwindle especially since a lot of these hospitals are already maxed out. So the importance for AmeriCare right now is really to coordinate with the local NGOs and with the prefectures because we want to partner with the local agencies to really deliver the items that are needed. And right now we're seeing that there is actually a need.

ROMANS: What do they need? Do they need medical equipment? Do they need food, water? Do they need heat at the places where people are - the evacuees are being taken? What is it that is the most important priority right now?

JACKSON: So right now we're seeing a lot of - we're seeing two things. We're seeing the shelters (INAUDIBLE) and the hospitals. And I think today we talked to a lot of the contacts that are organizing some of these NGOs. And prefectures have identified very specific needs. And you know, in the hospitals we're seeing a lot of patients that do have injuries and - and diseases related to the tsunami, to the water, to the (INAUDIBLE) injuries. But there's also serious concerns about shortages of oxygen (INAUDIBLE). There's a very unique population involved here. There's -

ROMANS: An elderly population. 20 percent of the country is elderly. That's right, which makes it a different kind of challenge altogether when you're talking about evacuees.

I want to switch gears and talk about the nuclear threat here. Because that is something that, you know, is a completely different set of medical challenges if - if god forbid things were to deteriorate there. What are you hearing about disaster relief and what AmeriCare is doing and preparing for in terms of the nuclear threat in the northern part of the country?

JACKSON: Yes, so this is adding a whole new level of complexity to the situation. Clearly the government's first priority right now - for AmeriCare, our focus is really mainly on that need, the health needs of these survivors. So we've been reaching out to the hospitals and prefecture offices. And one of them was Fukushima. They've determined - they've got a very specific list of needs that they need for their shelters. So we've been talking to -

ROMANS: What do they say they need in Fukushima? What are they looking for there? Iodine pills? What are they looking for?

JACKSON: We didn't get a request for iodine pills, but they are requesting basic medicines for some of the people. So it's a lot of over-the-counter medicine, aspirin, gastrointestinal medicine, not so much prescription medicines, but the hospitals themselves in Fukushima and Miyagi, they are asking for a lot of the chronic care meds in preparation for some of the influxes of patients, I think.

ROMANS: Michelle Jackson of AmeriCare. Thank you so much for your time. I know it's very, very busy where you are in Tokyo.

JACKSON: Thank you.

ROMANS: We're going to be right back with today's travel forecast, as well. It's 43 minutes past the hour.

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ROMANS: Police news this morning. P.J. Crowley resigning as State Department spokesman following his comments last week criticizing the Defense Department's handling of Bradley Manning. He is the Army Private being held in Quantico, Virginia, for allegedly leaking classified information to the WikiLeaks web site. Crowley called the treatment of Manning, quote, "Ridiculous, counterproductive ''and stupid.

CHETRY: A weekend packed with wildfires and now central Oklahoma may not be out of trouble just yet. Oklahoma's Governor Mary Fallon declared a state of emergency. It remains in effect for 77 counties in the state. The fires tore through the state Friday, destroying dozens of homes, forcing evacuations, although most of the blazes were put out by Saturday. So far, at least 15 injuries were reported.

It's 47 minutes past the hour. Time for us a to get a check of the weather headlines.

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ROMANS: Next on AMERICAN MORNING, a new explosion at one of the crippled nuclear facilities raising concern about radioactive leakage. A former chief inspector with the International Atomic Energy Agency will weigh in on that explosion overnight.

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ROMANS: Japan's earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant experienced its second explosion in three days. Government officials insist still, there's no serious danger. But, there is a growing concern about radiation leaks.

Olli Heinonen spent 27 years at the International Atomic Energy Agency serving for many years as the agency's chief inspector. He's now a senior fellow at Harvard. He joins us from Boston.

Welcome to the program. What they're trying to do here is they're trying to make sure that these fuel rods are not exposed, and they are working -- they are hard and round the clock to make sure that doesn't happen.

What happens if those fuel rods are exposed? OLLI HEINONEN, FORMER CHIEF INSPECTOR FOR I.A.E.A.: The explosion means here that there is not adequate cooling around the fuel rods to remove the heat from them. Therefore you have seen in last few days, big efforts to provide cooling water for the reactor core so that the heat can be removed and the fuel will not meltdown.

ROMANS: If that fuel melts down, what happens? What happens to the area? What happens to the northern part of the country? That's what they are fighting to avoid.

HEINONEN: Yes. It depends what will really happen in the next steps if we reach that point, which I think we can still perhaps avoid. But in principle it turns to a liquid when then melts and goes down in the reactor. Then the problem begins when it hits water at some point I in time and we will have steam explosion. And in the worst case there will be a rupture of the reactor vessel and then a release of radioactivity into the environment. Depending on to which extent the rods are exposed, the size of the explosion and the size of the leakage, then we can assess the consequences.

ROMANS: They're watching very carefully to see where the winds are in the area so that they know exactly if there is any radiation into the atmosphere, where it's going and the like.

I want to ask you about this sort of idea of a nuclear renaissance. Because clearly many countries are moving forward quite quickly with plants (ph), China among them, but other emerging nations, as well, where they would like to satisfy their growing energy needs with nuclear power.

Does what's happening in Japan set back some of that nuclear renaissance around the world or not?

HEINONEN: I'm sure it will have an impact in the short term at least. And I think that we will see some slowing down of those plans (ph). On the other hand, many of these nuclear power plants are under construction and I don't think that the countries will stop them.

ROMANS: I know even in the United States, nuclear energy is part of President Obama's green initiative or his initiative to wean the United States of foreign dependence on oil. And there have already been billions of dollars in guaranteed -- loan guarantees for reactors to be built in this country.

We do know Olli, that our 23 reactors in the United States in various different places that are like this Mark 1 plant at -- that we're talking about -- this Daiichi plant.

Do you think these plants, there's any kind of ramifications of what's happening in Japan for these plants that are of a similar make in the United States?

HEINONEN: I think that we need to revisit and assess first what took place in Japan, and which have been possible flaws of those reactors. Yes, these are even 40-years-old and older reactors. But they are not like 40-year-old cars. They have been renovated, they have been upgraded to meet the current standards. So I don't think that we can do the direct comparison to the age.

ROMANS: Yes, clearly. Let me ask you a little bit about the area in Japan. Evacuations of some 200,000 people. Moving people out after they've already had twin disasters. Very difficult. An elderly population, also difficult to move people out.

What needs to be done as we're waiting to find out what happens with these plants? Are they taking the right stems in your view moving the people out even in such difficult conditions?

HEINONEN: I think that this is the right precautionary measure. It's good that they did it in time because if this accident turns to worse, then at least you don't have an immediate concern about the population. So it was a brave and justified move.

ROMANS: Do you expect in this country that we're going to see a lot -- and we've already seen some Congress members and senators talking about whether we should put nuclear plans in the U.S. on hold, whether we shouldn't let this derail us from trying to wean our dependence on foreign oil and American energy needs.

Do you think there will be a big political discussion as people look inward in the United States to our own nuclear future?

HEINONEN: Sure. And I think such kind of discussion and assessment is justified.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate it.

HEINONEN: Thank you.

ROMANS: Olli Heinonen, thank you for being with us.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Christine, thanks. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, much more on the Japan situation, the latest there, and many other top stories coming up. It's 56 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.

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