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Nancy Grace

American Teacher Missing in Japan Reported Dead

Aired March 21, 2011 - 20:00   ET

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


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. Devastation in Japan. The most massive earthquake in 100 years triggers a tsunami that rocks Japan, in the last 24 hours, the death toll soaring to over 22,000 dead and missing. Is the Japanese government outright lying, covering up the severity of the crisis not only to Japanese but Americans? Nuclear radiation spreading when nuclear power plants designed to shut down in the face of an earthquake do not. Japanese and Americans on Japanese soil struggling to survive.

Fuel rods at the nuclear power plant exposed, emitting extremely high levels of nuclear radiation as California`s governor declares a state of emergency. International rescue attempts torpedoed over nuclear radiation fears. Japanese schools used as morgues, lists of the dead posted on the doors. Civilians now falling ill from radiation from radiation as that radiation hits California. Passengers on a Tokyo-Chicago flight set off radiation detectors as the nuclear threat level hits level five, the same as Three Mile Island. As the U.S. sends a fleet of buses to rescue Americans, red flags planted to mark dead bodies.

Bombshell tonight. Nuclear radiation in the air now invading food and water, high levels of radioactivity in milk, produce, livestock, tap water. And tonight, more fears at nuclear power plants as smoke from two of the damaged reactors rises into the air.

And tonight, a gorgeous 24-year-old teacher, Taylor Anderson, whose parents appeared with us in hopes of finding their daughter in Japan, first told she`s alive. Tonight, reports American girl Taylor Anderson is dead. Panic mounting in Japan and now in the U.S. What is next?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s an event of wider consequences.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number of dead in Japan continuing to rise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shelters packed with hundreds of thousands of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fear and confusion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: High levels of iodine have been found in drinking water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re finding tainted food further away from the reactor than they had expected to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Radiation found actually in some of the food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: High levels of radiation have been detected in both spinach and milk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government giving a grimmer assessment of the disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Japanese authorities appear to not still have control over the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Conceding it is worse than they previously said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a scale of 1 to 7, they`re calling this now a 5.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second-worst nuclear disaster ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What I can say is we are trying our best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re using helicopters and water cannons to try and cool down these reactors.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even as Japanese responders continue to do heroic work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing persons notices lie like wallpaper.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Survivors have very little hope of finding loved ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The living sift through evacuation center and hospital logs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s very likely that it will be weeks or months before they come anywhere close to knowing what this death toll is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Occasionally, some good news over a borrowed phone line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should overcome this situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But as the days pass, happy events are outnumbered by people registering the dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we will overcome the situation.

GRACE: What is the last you heard of your child?

ANDY ANDERSON, FATHER: Well, last we heard was that she left Bongukura (ph) elementary school in Ishinomaki (ph) just after the earthquake to ride her bike home.

GRACE: How did you normally get in touch with her? How did you normally hear from Taylor?

ANDY ANDERSON: We normally used IM or Skype.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. The most massive earthquake in 100 years triggers a tsunami that rocks Japan, the death toll soaring to over 22,000 dead and missing, nuclear radiation in the air now invades food and water, as smoke from two damaged nuclear reactors rises into the air as we go live tonight!

And reports confirm a gorgeous 24-year-old teacher, American girl Taylor Anderson, her parents first told she was alive -- we now hear reports she, in fact, has perished.

Straight out to Dan Sloan, senior correspondent with Reuters. Dan, thank you for with us. What can you tell us, Dan?

DAN SLOAN, REUTERS: Well, looking at the overall situation first to the nuclear facility itself, yesterday, Japanese authorities had some success in hooking up nuclear -- excuse me -- electric generators to the facilities in hopes that they can activate the water coolant systems and ultimately bring down to some degree the pressure and steam inside the facilities. It`s not clear whether all of the six facilities are working, but they`ve had two already come back on line. So it did raise a little bit of optimism in regard to trying to get these facilities up and working again.

GRACE: Dan Sloan, senior correspondent, Reuters, joining us from Tokyo. And now also from Japan, Gary Tuchman, CNN correspondent. Gary, what can you tell us?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Nancy, the devastation here just becomes more and more apparent every day. We`re getting access now to areas that we weren`t able to get to over the last six or seven days. And right now, I`m in this town, Kesennuma. No town has been hit harder than Kesennuma. And the destruction that I see within two to three miles of the beach is the worse than any destruction I`ve ever seen in my career.

And one thing it reminds me of, when you see the part of the town that`s just totally destroyed and some smoldering fires still remaining and then you see the signs in Japanese, it reminds me of film you would see in elementary school of the Hiroshima destruction. I mean, that`s what it`s reminiscent of. That`s how bad it is.

GRACE: And Gary, we are now understanding that the radiation, the nuclear radiation that had been, or many thought, was limited to just the air is now in the food and water supply. Explain.

TUCHMAN: Well, there`s certainly a lot of concern not just here in Japan but everywhere in the world that food from the area near the nuclear plant might be dangerous to eat. Now, there is certainly more science -- much more science that needs to be done at this point, but everyone is being warned to be very careful of what they eat for -- particularly for spinach that is grown near the plant.

GRACE: Back to Dan Sloan, senior correspondent, Reuters, joining us from Tokyo. Dan, I want to talk about the body of the American teacher, Taylor Anderson`s, reportedly found. Her parents were first told that she was alive. They appeared here with us. We used every means we could to try to locate her. She was -- they were told she was alive. What happened, Dan?

SLOAN: We have been told that the Japanese embassy, or the U.S. embassy here in Tokyo has contacted the family, and reports have come out that they have asked for privacy in the wake of her body being recovered. As you may know, she was teaching at an English -- English schools in the city of Ishinomaki and Miyagi, which is very, very close to the epicenter of the quake. Obviously, as Gary was describing, it`s a scene of vast devastation along the coastal region. So it has taken some time to actually find -- you know, we still have tens of thousands missing. So it was something that there had been hope from the family and certainly among all folks here, but it appears that she has been found and dead.

GRACE: We are talking about a young teacher, whose parents came on our show begging for help in finding her. They were told that she was, in fact, alive. We have now learned the young girl, Taylor Anderson -- reports are that she is dead. There are her parents begging for help.

Back to Dan Sloan, senior correspondent with Reuters. Dan, do we know what befell her? What happened?

SLOAN: No, I think a lot of that will just be speculation right now relative to the -- you know, the twin natural disasters, obviously, this tremendous earthquake, the largest Japan had seen in its recorded history, and then secondly, you know, the devastating tsunami that followed.

If you look at the kind of pictures of what went on on the 11th and just how traumatic the kinds of natural calamities were that day, it would be very difficult to assume, you know, what or where she was right now. But I`m sure more details will come out reasonably soon.

GRACE: Joining us, David Schauer, executive director of the NCRPM, board-certified health physicist joining out of the capital. The food and water supply is now radioactive. There`s no two ways about it. That has been determined. What they don`t know is how far away from the plant it is radioactive. I`m talking about not just the spinach, but produce, tap water, livestock, milk. That`s what we have been told so far.

Will that produce get to America? I know about 4 percent of our imported foods in the U.S. is from Japan.

DAVID SCHAUER, HEALTH PHYSICIST: Nancy, you`re right. It`s a very small percentage of...

GRACE: Yes, unless it`s you eating it! It may be small, but if it`s you or your family or your children eating it, it may not seem so small!

SCHAUER: No, that`s a good point. And to the levels that are considered to be acceptable, the World Health Organization, as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- they publish guidelines. And so what we want to look for is to ensure that any imports from that area, in fact, comply with those guidelines.

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. I want to go back to Gary Tuchman, who is joining us live from Japan. Gary, now, a number of days have passed since the tsunami, since the earthquake. Are you seeing any improvement? Because on our end, it sounds like it`s getting worse.

TUCHMAN: You know, in many ways, it is getting worse because you`ve having people face the reality now of the devastation that occurred here. I mean, you said it yourself, Nancy. The toll right now is 22,000 dead or missing. I mean, they`ve never had devastation in this country like this since World War II. This is just an awful scenario and reality is starting to sink in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your mother you think is in here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she says, in the rubble of the first floor. His story is just one of thousands in this disaster. I held my father above the water, says Yamaguchi (ph), still numb with trauma. But the force of the tsunami was too strong. I couldn`t hold onto him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the tsunami alert sounds, everyone sprints for higher ground. Police abandon their cars. Rescue workers rush people to safety. One man shouts at us, It`s your life. Run!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Frightening beyond belief, says Hiroki Otomo (ph). I have no words. Otomo`s mother and uncle are missing and feared dead. They were both home as the tsunami came into Putaki (ph). A thank you from the family, his father covers his son and offers a final farewell to his friends. A few more seconds to cry, then Hiroki`s friends move back inside the shelter to deal with what this disaster brings next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live tonight, amid reports that nuclear radiation no longer just in the air there in Japan but now in the food, water, livestock, produce, supplies and fears that that radiation is coming via food to the U.S. Also, new plumes of smoke rising from two of the nuclear reactors there in Japan. It was believed that there was progress being made over the weekend, but no more!

Straight out to Bernie Rayno, senior meteorologist, Accuweather.com. Bernie, explain how this is going to affect us.

BERNIE RAYNO, METEOROLOGIST, ACCUWEATHER.COM: Well, in the United States, I don`t think there`s going to be a big impact at all. You know, I think the...

GRACE: Bernie!

RAYNO: ... the radiation is...

GRACE: Bernie!

RAYNO: Oh, boy. Here we go, Nancy.

GRACE: Yes.

RAYNO: Nancy...

GRACE: Here we go!

RAYNO: ... this is not heading...

GRACE: That`s what you said...

RAYNO: ... to the United States!

GRACE: ... last time, and -- and...

RAYNO: And I`m going to continue to say it, Nancy.

GRACE: ... there`s a state of emergency...

RAYNO: You`re not -- Nancy, this is not...

GRACE: ... declared in California!

RAYNO: This is not damaging -- this is not damaging radiation in the United States! It`s one billionth of what is needed to cause any problems. The state of emergency in California, from what I remember from last week...

GRACE: Yes, that`s what...

RAYNO: ... was from the damage from the tsunami.

GRACE: ... the Japanese government said, too! Don`t worry! Everything`s fine!

RAYNO: It`s not fine in Japan. Absolutely not. I would never say that. This is a big concern for Japan. This is not a big concern for the West Coast of the United States. And maybe we should just agree to disagree on this one.

GRACE: Well, could you explain to me then why the California governor has declared a state of emergency?

RAYNO: For radiation that`s one billionth...

GRACE: Maybe he should read your weather report.

RAYNO: Radiation that`s one billionth of what is before it`s damage? You know, no matter how you slice this, this is not headed toward the United States as far as the damage as (ph) radiation. It didn`t head to the United States with Chernobyl, which was volumes bigger than what we have going on in Japan. This is a huge concern in Japan. No doubt about it. That has to be taken care of, but it`s not for the United States, not the damaging radiation. It doesn`t just magically appear. It`s got to get here. And the large amounts aren`t.

GRACE: OK. Speaking of magic, Bernie, all of that is sleight of the hand or smoke and mirrors. There`s no such thing as magic. Let me school you. You`re the meteorologist.

RAYNO: You`re going to school me? OK.

GRACE: I`m just a JD. I`m just a JD.

RAYNO: OK.

GRACE: I`m just a trial lawyer, but I know that radiation comes across the ocean. It is dissipated by wind current and salt spray. But it is reaching the shore of California. It is!

RAYNO: It is. We know that...

GRACE: Whether you want to tell me it`s a minuscule amount, fine.

RAYNO: So you`re telling me that radiation says "Made in Japan." There`s radiation all over the place every single day! But you`re talking the damaging radiation. That`s the thing we`re most concerned about. And even in Chernobyl, that didn`t get to the United States in damaging amounts. How is it going to...

GRACE: OK, you know what, Bernie? From your mouth to God`s ear.

RAYNO: From my mouth?

GRACE: Your mouth to God`s ear!

Back to Gary Tuchman joining us. Gary, I want to talk about what went wrong at the nuclear power plants over the weekend again. We thought progress was being made, but Japanese wake up and now there`s new smoke erupting from two of the nuclear reactors! Why? Do we even know why? Can we get close enough to find out why? And what effect is that going to have?

TUCHMAN: One of the problems for us as journalists or as people who want to stay healthy is we can`t really get close to the plant to see these pictures ourselves. It`s not safe. You know, everyone has been ordered to be as far away as they can. That`s the sad part, that so many Japanese citizens aren`t able to leave the area and they`re still there.

yes, smoke is rising from two of the reactors. We don`t know why. Every day brings new news. It makes us very concerned.

And one more thing, Nancy, I want to mention to you. You talked about Taylor Anderson. I just want to tell you one thing that I think you will find very interesting.

GRACE: We`ll be right back after this break with that news about Taylor Anderson, the American girl now believed dead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you were looking out your windshield and you saw the water coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He tried to escape, but it was too late. Over and over, I was hit, he said. And then his car flooded. He was slowly drowning, so he tried to smash the window with his right hand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw the bottom of the sea when the tidal wave withdrew and houses and people were being washed away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The food scares now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gray smoke coming from reactor 3.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engineers are struggling there to prevent a meltdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I have no idea what I will do next or where I will go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. I want to go back to Gary Tuchman. Gary, you were telling me about Taylor Anderson.

TUCHMAN: Right, Nancy. So we went to the school. The teachers told us that Taylor Anderson made the decision after the earthquake but before the tsunami to ride her bicycle back home. Unfortunately, the school was the safe place for her to have been. The tsunami never got there. But her home was near the river. Her home was under water. And the decision, the split-second decision she made apparently cost her her life.

GRACE: You are seeing a shot of Taylor Anderson, her parents here with us, begging for her safe return. We now have reports that Taylor has, in fact, perished in Japan, along with thousands of others. That death toll, the dead and missing, now soaring to over 22,000 people.

Out to the lines. Tara in Vermont. Hi, Tara.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, you know, with Japan not being, you know, the biggest country in the world, what happens when all these evacuation places are full? You know, what are we going to -- what are we going to do as a country to help these people out?

GRACE: I want to go now to a special guest joining us tonight, David Meltzer, SVP of international services, American Red Cross. David, what are we doing, and what can be done?

DAVID MELTZER, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Well, right now, there are hundreds of thousands of people in shelters in Japan. It`s about the size of the city of St. Louis, 350,000 people. Many are leaving every day as electricity and water is being restored to their homes, about 10,000 a day. But the needs of 350,000 people for food and for water and for heat are enormous. And the Red Cross is there helping people, providing medical care and distributing relief supplies and counseling to many, many people who have lost loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I have no words to express my feelings. I`ve lost my mind. We will have to start from zero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s an event of wider consequences.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number of dead in Japan continuing to rise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shelters packed with hundreds of thousands of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fear and confusion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: High levels of iodine have been found in drinking water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re finding tainted food further away from the reactor than they had expected to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Radiation found actually in some of the food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: High levels of radiation have been detected in both spinach and milk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government giving a grimmer assessment of the disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Japanese authorities appear to not still have control over the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Conceding it is worse than they previously said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a scale of 1 to 7, they`re calling this now a 5.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second-worst nuclear disaster ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What I can say is we are trying our best.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re using helicopters and water cannons to try and cool down these reactors.

OBAMA: Even as Japanese responders continue to do heroic work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing persons notices lie like wallpaper.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Survivors have very little hope of finding loved ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The living sift through evacuation center and hospital logs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s very likely that it will be weeks or months before they come anywhere close to knowing what this death toll is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Occasionally, some good news over a borrowed phone line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We should overcome this situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But as the days pass, happy events are outnumbered by...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live and sending them directly to Japan. Standing by, Gary Tuchman joining us. Gary, I want to talk to you about a miracle, a survival story, an 80-year-old grandmother. What happened?

TUCHMAN: Isn`t that amazing? An 80-year-old grandmother and 16-year- old grandson found in an apartment building in Ishinomaki. That`s near where Taylor Anderson perished. And what we`re finding are -- there`s still an active search operation going on, not for people who would be trapped under rubble, who would be not able to get out of their house, but people who are trapped in their houses because they`re marooned, because they`re surrounded by water. They`re surrounded by wreckage. And rescue workers can`t get there. And that`s what happened in the case of these two people. A helicopter was able to pluck them out. And after nine days, they were alive, and it was certainly a miracle story.

GRACE: Jean Casarez, how did they survive?

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Nancy, because they were trapped in the kitchen near the refrigerator. And the 16-year-old son was actually able to get a lot of yogurt out of the refrigerator, as well as milk and Coca- Cola. And that`s how they survived. And he was able to crawl out a little hole and just stand up there and wave for help.

GRACE: How was he getting the food to his grandmother? So they were both trapped in debris? The grandmother couldn`t get out? Explain to me.

CASAREZ: She was under a kitchen cabinet, actually. He was able to just get it to her. If they ate it with their fingers, that`s how I`m sure they did it. But they were able to survive because, I think, of being in that kitchen.

GRACE: So he would get the food out of the refrigerator, crawl to his 80-year-old grandmother, feed her...

CASAREZ: Yes.

GRACE: ... feed himself out of what was left in the refrigerator, the fridge no longer working. And how did he manage to flag down rescuers, Jean?

CASAREZ: He was finally able to get through a crevice, a hole, very small, up onto the roof of their home and just stand there and wave until finally, rescue crew personnel saw him.

GRACE: I want to go back to a special guest joining us tonight from American Red Cross, David Meltzer. The money flowing from the U.S. and really all around he world to Japan is greatly lagging, greatly lagging behind that that went to Haiti. Why?

MELTZER: A lot, I think, has to do with the ability of the Japanese people, that they have a lot of resources, unlike Haiti, a lot of people highly trained, a lot of relief supplies are available. And I think that`s driving a lot of the donations.

GRACE: In addition to the Red Cross, UMCOR, United Methodist Corps of Relief, has been there since day one. You don`t hear -- let`s put the information up, Liz, please. You don`t hear a lot about UMCOR because 100 percent of the donations made to them, 100 percent, goes to helping, goes to relief. There you see the information, to the Pacific Emergency Advance, 3021317. If you want to do more than just hear about it on TV and wring your hands, here`s your chance.

We are taking your calls. To Laura in Pennsylvania. Hi, Laura.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: Hi, dear. I`m good. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My concern -- it`s actually a question, and I wanted to know how accurate the media`s coverage of the radiation levels to hit the West Coast are.

GRACE: I`m very suspicious. But you know, that`s just me. After being a trial lawyer all those years, and especially when it`s the government telling me something -- hello? You think I`m going to believe anything out of Washington D.C.? No!

OK, to Dan Sloan, senior correspondent, Reuters. Let`s address Laura`s question. What do you know?

SLOAN: Well, from here in Japan, obviously, the focus has been on domestic levels of radiation and those vulnerable. Obviously, there`s kind of less familiarity with what`s happening in terms of other places. But certainly, the global anxiety about developments in Fukushima is well known.

The zone itself extended rather slowly, as you probably know, from three kilometers or about a mile-and-a-half to 30 kilometers. The people that are within that zone, to some degree, if they hadn`t already evacuated, if they`re from 20 to 30 kilometers, they are basically stuck.

As you`ve been saying, obviously, we`re getting kind of cases of contaminated food, water even here in Tokyo. And we`re substantially -- we`re about 150 miles from the facility itself. These levels, as the government is saying, are not necessarily harmful yet. But it`s certainly added to a sense of anxiety. We saw runs on water, food, gasoline, as you might expect, early after the crisis and as things worsened in Fukushima.

GRACE: Back to Gary Tuchman in Japan. Gary, what are you eating and drinking?

TUCHMAN: Well, there`s not a lot to buy here. You know, we`re in Kesennuma, which is the hardest hit city, one of the two or three hardest hit cities that we`ve seen. And the stores are not open. The stores that are open don`t have much bread or water or anything healthy to eat. There`s a lot of candy and cookies. And it`s very hard to get gasoline.

So you know, it`s -- but we`re journalists and we`re going to go home to our houses. You know, millions of Japanese people who are having a very difficult time. And what`s stressful for them is, you know, they`re used to living the caliber of life that`s a very good one compared to the Haitian people. And that`s a big problem here for the Japanese, who aren`t used to dealing with this kind of thing.

GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Gary, you`re going to go home -- you`re going to go home. You say you`re a journalist. But you still have to eat the food. You`re joining me live from Japan right now. As a matter of fact, I met with the head of CNN operations, and he was stacking up. We went out on the sidewalk. He was stacking up a huge, tall tower of food and operations equipment to send to you guys in Japan. Are you getting it?

TUCHMAN: Well, when I say we`re going home, you know, we don`t have to live like this forever, like the Japanese people have to do.

GRACE: I mean for now!

TUCHMAN: We have had some supplies...

GRACE: What are you eating? What are you eating?

TUCHMAN: We have had some supplies brought in. But because we`re not in Tokyo, we`re getting less of the, quote, unquote, "CNN supplies" that other people have. And so we`re making do. We`re kind of -- we`re buying some food when we can find it at the stores. We`re cooking it in the little hotel we`re staying at. We`re not eating as much as we usually do, but you know, we`re here to cover the story and we`re doing what we can. I would tell you I`m eating a lot of nutrition bars, Nancy, which I bring with me on all stories which are particularly coming in handy on this story.

GRACE: Also, how is this affecting American sushi? Now, I know that not a lot of the American population is eating sushi, but people that eat it, eat it a lot. There are over 5,000 sushi restaurants in America.

Jean Casarez, you think I`m going to eat Japanese sushi? But isn`t it true that most of them get their -- their fish from elsewhere?

CASAREZ: That`s what we understand. Only 4 percent of food imports come from Japan.

GRACE: And that`s food imports, Jean, right? Not just our food supply but our imported food supply.

CASAREZ: That is right. That is a general number. But the sushi, we understand, does not normally come from Japan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The situation is so terribly grim for those in Japan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was the fourth biggest to fifth biggest quake on the planet that we know of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it was just the beginning. Another even greater threat was bearing down on Japan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Japan`s disaster, there are too many dead to have a proper funeral.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I thought Japan would disappear under water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The death toll is rising rapidly. We know it`ll continue to rise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing persons notices lie like wallpaper -- mother, grandmother, husband. Takuchiba (ph) points to where she believes her husband`s body may be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: With the death toll soaring to over 22,000 dead and missing, the Japanese government still apparently clinging to a cover-up about the severity of the nuclear radiation befalling Japanese and Americans on American soil! Breaking now. We learn a young girl, an American girl, Taylor Anderson -- parents appeared here, begging for help to find their daughter in Japan, first told she was alive. Now we have reports Taylor has perished.

Back to Jean Casarez, Jean, recap.

CASAREZ: Well, the U.S. embassy confirmed with the family just minutes ago that she, in fact -- her body had been found. She is dead. In 2008 is when she originally went to Japan. She was an English teacher. And when the earthquake hit, she survived that and she helped her students get to safety. And that`s when she got on her bicycle, and it is believed she bicycled 10 to 15 minutes until the waters of the tsunami hit her. She was never seen again.

GRACE: To Cynthia Young (ph), joining us out of Chicago, mother of Edward Cory Clements (ph). Oh, hold on. Now I`ve got Shelley Fredrickson, sister of Monty Dickons, missing in Japan. Shelley, welcome. What can you tell me about the last time Monty known to be alive?

SHELLEY FREDRICKSON, SISTER OF MONTY DICKONS (VIA TELEPHONE): Well, the last time somebody spoke with Monty was right after the earthquake. He spoke to his girlfriend on the phone. He went to the evacuation area at the city hall there in (INAUDIBLE) And that was the last anybody heard from him.

GRACE: What was he doing there?

FREDRICKSON: At the city hall or in Japan?

GRACE: In Japan.

FREDRICKSON: He was an English teacher with the JET (ph) program. He taught English to elementary and junior high school students.

GRACE: Liz, let`s put up the locator information up for Americans seeking to find their loved ones in Japan. Shelley Fredrickson joining us from Anchorage. Shelley, you say that heard from him just after the earthquake, correct?

FREDRICKSON: Yes, he was -- I did not hear from him, but somebody locally did in Japan.

GRACE: What did he say? Where was he going?

FREDRICKSON: That he was going to the city hall there in town. That was the evacuation center. That`s also where the board of education office was.

GRACE: Was he on foot? Was he on a bicycle? Was he by car or bus?

FREDRICKSON: We believe he was on foot. He had earlier been teaching at one of the schools and went through regular evacuation procedures with the students, out into the fields. And from what I understand, a lot of parents came and picked up their children. And then he continued on foot to the city hall building.

GRACE: And again, what city in Japan was this, Shelley?

FREDRICKSON: In Rikaventakata (ph).

GRACE: Rikaventakata, Japan.

FREDRICKSON: Iwaki prefecture.

GRACE: OK. Shelley Fredrickson. We are now efforting the location of Monty Dickons, a young man now missing, American man missing in Japan.

To Margaret Haas (ph), a Japanese-American cultural expert joining us out of New York. Margaret, thank you for being with us. When all these American experts keep telling me, Oh, we`re fine, California`s fine, the coast is fine, they`re basing that on what the Japanese government is saying to determine the threat to the U.S.

MARGARET HAAS, JAPANESE-AMERICAN CULTURAL EXPERT: Right.

GRACE: I don`t believe that. Am I wrong?

HAAS: Well, I think that it certainly is Japanese psychology to protect the group and stay as a group and understate things. I have been surprised, but certainly understand that many of my friends in Japan are very concerned to stay very calm. I think it`s because it is a very grave situation. And Japanese have an enormous concern to keep things very calm and very orderly.

So I`m not so much sure that the government is trying to deceive us as much as they were a little slow on the uptake, perhaps, but they`re really doing their best to kind of keep things in some kind of care for the group. And Japanese are very good at being resilient and keeping that calm.

GRACE: Wendy Walsh joining us from Momlogic.com. The food, the water, the produce, the livestock, everything poisoned! What advice do you give these people not on survival techniques, physical survival, but emotional and mental survival?

WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: You know, the emotional survival is the thing that I care about a lot. I mean, when you understand post-traumatic stress disorder and how it gets in your bones, that you might have flashbacks, hallucinations for years to come, but worse, that you`ll parent differently, that pleasure can`t be had without fear and risk, that you can`t enjoy life, that you can`t find love and connect with people because danger will happen, that`s the frightening thing for me. It`s one thing to get through these months as they stabilize again physically, Nancy, but think about the long-term cultural changes in this very loving, uplifting people.

GRACE: To Dr. Stanton Kessler, former medical examiner, forensic pathologist, now professor at the University of South Carolina department of pathology. Doctor, thank you for being with us.

DR. STANTON KESSLER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Hi.

GRACE: How does the...

KESSLER: Thank you, Nancy.

GRACE: Yes, sir. How does the nuclear radiation in the air then get into the water supply, the food supply, livestock and produce?

KESSLER: Well, it`s called "fall-out" for a reason. These are particulate matter, dust, dirt, radioactive nucleotides we call them. They get into the atmosphere, and then they begin to fall down from rain, from heavy (ph) weights (ph), what have you. And then it gets into the atmosphere. It gets into the plants. Animals eat the plants. It gets into the water supply. It gets into the ocean. Realize, though, the water supply, if you filter it properly or you distill it -- and there are home distillers you can get -- you can drink the water. If you eat the vegetables...

GRACE: But Doctor -- Dr. Kessler...

KESSLER: ... and you peel the vegetables...

GRACE: You`re right. I know about the home distiller. But who`s got one? And if they did have one, how are they going to find it? And -- and...

KESSLER: There are ways to make -- you can make it from a pot and a big lid that overhangs it and have the water that drips off, the boiling water drips into the pot. That`s what we were taught to use way back when, when we were worried about nuclear bombs. We`ve had a lot of nuclear bombs go off in the United States and a lot of test bombs in Bimini and what have you probably with more radiation and we`re worried about it consistently. But for some reason, it hasn`t had the impact we think.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Tony, North Carolina. Hi, Tony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. Love your show. I was just wondering...

GRACE: Thank you. Thank you for calling in. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, how much spinach and milk do we get from Japan?

GRACE: You know, I`m putting it out there that it`s not a lot of spinach or milk because of the strong dairy association here in the U.S. Back to Jean Casarez, isn`t it mostly processed food, like crackers and things like that?

CASAREZ: Yes. But obviously, in the Asian supermarkets of this country, it is milk from Japan and other countries. But the issue is not so much how it`s going to affect you today or tomorrow but years from now. The iodine radioactivity stays in your body.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re finding tainted food further away from the reactor than they had expected to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s a silent threat, you know? You just can`t see it or hear it or anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spinach and milk, that`s where they`ve located higher levels of radiation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we are getting scared now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Efforts to prevent more radiation from getting into the atmosphere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The World Health Organization is saying it`s far more serious than what they thought.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So many families just saying, Get out, get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. To Karen in Rhode Island. Hi, Karen. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. My question is, I was wondering, Nancy, if you think that this will help Japan actually move away from thoughts of nuclear power because this is the second major nuclear disaster that they`ve actually had, one in World War II and now.

GRACE: That`s an excellent question. Margaret Haas, quickly.

HAAS: The -- what was the question again? I`m sorry.

GRACE: Will this help Japan move away from nuclear power sources?

HAAS: I don`t think so. I think it`s just -- the country is too narrow, too dependent on foreign natural resources, unfortunately. I think...

GRACE: And to Wendy Walsh, psychologist at Momlogic.com. Wendy, for Americans to be told first your child`s alive, then to find out they`re dead is like a double whammy.

WALSH: It is because they were given so much hope, and now they`re having to deal with sort of a double kind of grieving, first the loss and now the death. But Nancy, you know, the big thing here is not only the post-traumatic stress disorder that we`re going to see, but there`s long- time survivor`s guilt. It really concerns me for the future of Japan.

GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember Marine Corporal Rusty Washam, 21, Huntsville, Tennessee, killed, Iraq, awarded Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, served, Afghanistan, from a military family, lost his life three days after his 21st birthday. A bridge in his hometown named after him. Loved football, basketball, hunting, fishing, swimming, leaves behind parents Beverly (ph) and Sonny (ph), an Army vet, brothers Dustin (ph) and Donny (ph), serving, Army and Air Force, sisters Michelle (ph), Lily (ph) and Misty (ph), sons Ryan (ph) and Andrew (ph). Rusty Washam, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us. And tonight, our prayers not only to the Japanese but to Americans suffering in Japan and in the U.S.

I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 o`clock sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END