Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Experts Aware Kathmandu was in Seismic Activity Crosshairs; Help Desperately Needed in Nepal After Massive Quake; Defense Argues to Save Boston Bomber's Life; Olympian Bruce Jenner Admits on TV He's Transgender. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 27, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:31] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're just past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN.

Let's talk about that massive earthquake that hit Nepal. Not a surprise to seismologists. Experts knew Kathmandu, the capital, was in the cross-hairs of seismic activity.

Dr. Benjamin Crooker joins me from Fordham University. He's a physic's professor and he manages the school's seismic observatory and he's flanked with a seismometer that we'll get into in a moment.

But first, Professor, welcome.

DR. BENJAMIN CROOKER, PHYSICS PROFESSOR, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: Thank you very much, Brooke. Glad to be here.

BALDWIN: Let's get a little wonky because I'm curious. Everything I was reading, Nepal is on the convergent zone in the Himalayas where the Indian and Eurasia tectonic plates collide. Can you explain this part of the world and why this part of the world is capable of producing major quakes?

CROOKER: Well, if you have ever watched a pot of pasta boiling, you see the water rise in places and fall in places. And India is sort of like a piece of pasta floating on top of that water being pushed around. In the case of the earth, radioactive elements deep in the earth cause that same kind of upwelling in the mantel and push the continents around the great plates of the earth around.

And it happens one of those up-wellings is pushing India north and it's colliding with the Asian plate, which is a separate plate, and that's what causes the giant peaks like the Himalayas. And as those two plates run into each other, the ground, the plate begins to fold up because it's sort of stuck. And then at some point, that releases and that's what causes the earthquake. It's released energy from the whole continent being sort of compressed and pushed up against Asia for a period of time, and then suddenly it releases.

BALDWIN: OK. I'm having geology 101 flashbacks. It's fascinating. But here's my next question because I heard, on one hand, you really can't predict quakes, but at the same time, it was just a week ago, Professor, that you had these experts actually in Kathmandu saying, listen, the next big one was imminent. How did they know it was coming and why couldn't they predict precisely when?

CROOKER: Some of it is just about time. You measure the time since the last earthquake. You know India is moving north at a certain rate of speed, which we can measure actually using GPS, and so we know even though the whole continent is moving north that the convergence zone has not moved. We haven't had an earthquake. So we know the pressure is building up there. But this kind of thing is really going on 10 kilometers deep underground to 50 to 100 kilometers deep. So knowing when the rock has finally reached the breaking point and is about to release is the really hard part that we really can't do reliably yet.

[14:35:38] BALDWIN: OK. Here we are in New York, and you're at Fordham University, which is across the street from where I'm sitting here at Time Warner Center, and we're talking about a place half a world away in Nepal. You have this seismometer next to you. Were you able to detect what happened in Nepal?

CROOKER: Yes, this equipment is capable of measuring earthquakes anywhere in the world, down to a magnitude of five. What happened in Nepal was huge. It caused the earth to ring for hours afterwards. It's the ringing, much like striking a bell, you can hear the bell ring for a long time afterward. It took 20 minutes for earthquake waves to travel all the way around the world and get to us. Once it happened, then we had activity for next couple of hours.

BALDWIN: And continued to ring, as we know, still these after shocks, and then you have these land slides. And monsoon season is a couple of months away. This is not a positive outlook for this part of the world.

Benjamin Crooker, at Fordham University, thank you very much to you and your underground vault and the seismometer.

Let me move along. Up next, we'll talk to someone whose family is still there in Nepal. He'll join me to explain what they are seeing, what they are hearing, and how the Nepalese people really are tough, brave, and rely on one another to survive. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:48] BALDWIN: I don't think I can quite say this enough. Help desperately needed in Nepal after a massive earthquake claimed the lives of 4,000 people. More than 7,000 survivors need medical help. Now UNICEF says one million children are in need of emergency assistance.

My next guest is trying to answer that call for help. Prabal Gurung is a celebrated fashion designer who has dressed the likes of First Lady Michelle Obama, Duchess Kate Middleton. He grew up in Nepal. Since setting up his relief fund for quake survivors, his foundation has raised -- we're watching the numbers -- more than $230,000.

Prabal, it's so nice to have you on so much. Thank you so much.

PRABAL GURUNG, FASHION DESIGNER: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: I'm sorry for what has happened to your home. Can we just begin with your family? You have multiple family members back in Nepal. How are they doing?

GURUNG: They are doing fine, as fine as they can, like the rest of the nation. I think my mom, my brother, brother-in-law, sister, father, everyone, my relatives they are all there, stranded outside, you know, because they can't stay inside the house because there's still the after shocks that are really severe.

BALDWIN: How do you mean? Let me stop you there. So they are worried they can't be in the house because it's rattling, things can fall on them. Where are they staying?

GURUNG: Yes. They are in an open space on the ground like in a tent. And literally like -- it's almost like camping outside. It's not just them, it's everyone in Nepal and Kathmandu, especially. And in the villages, they don't have resources so they can't even do that. On top of that it's raining nonstop. And there's no electricity. So the connections are spotty. So it's been really difficult to try to get in touch with them. And luckily, with app and be social media, Facebook, Twitter, everybody is keeping in touch.

I went to school there so my group of friends we started forum talking about what's happening. Some of us are here, some of us are around the world and a few of them are in Nepal, and so they're letting us know what is happening. It's harrowing. It's really, really disturbing because it's one of the -- when I look at the pictures and I see the personal images that people have sent me, it's devastating. It's heart wrenching.

BALDWIN: It must be tough for you, because here you are. Your heart is back there, which is your family. It's almost this scene of "I want to help, I want to help," but this disconnect too, right?

GURUNG: One of the reasons was, the minute I heard, I was like, you know, non-action is not an option at all. I have to do something. You know, we talk about doing good stuff and everything, every day, but is this time -- this is when we need to --

BALDWIN: Get to it.

GURUNG: -- yeah, get to it. Walk the talk and do, so I started, that's one of the reason the Foundation for Nepal, which means education. It started educating displaced children and everything. My foundation started fundraising thing on Crowd Riser and I went for it. I'm fortunate enough because of what I love to do, I've been able to have an audience and platform and connections, so I reached out to all the people who have, let's say, millions of followers on social media.

BALDWIN: Name some names. Who is helping you out?

GURUNG: Sarah Jessica Parker, who is a dear my friend of mine, to Zoe, to Kim Kardashian. It went from there t -- and CFDA, they immediately pledged $10 million, to all the designers, fashion community globally.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: They are all jumping in to help you help Nepal.

GURUNG: Absolutely. It has been really, really great. So, you know, I'm always very careful about asking for favors and everything, but this is a time, you know, no shame, I'm going to reach out and ask for it because we need to raise the money right now. That is the important thing. Right now, Indian funds are need and there are Red Cross and Oxfam and everyone is doing their bit. But what happens in a week or two when world attention is diverted to somewhere else. We have a rebuilding process that will take for a long time.

BALDWIN: Where do people want to go? I can feel people thinking, this is wonderful, how can I find this man and help him. How can people help you?

[14:45:14] GURUNG: Grow to Crowd Riser. Under that I have "Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund."

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You've got it.

GURUNG: And just go there, donate. And I feel people should donate to like -- I would say organizations that they trust, they believe in.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We have an "Impact Your World" website. Go to CNN.com/impact. We try to help. You're helping.

Prabal, thank you so much.

GURUNG: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Our best, thoughts and wishes and everything to your family and everyone over there trying to work through this, with the rains and living in tents. I can't even begin to imagine. Thank you.

GURUNG: Thank you very much. The Nepalese people have grace under pressure.

BALDWIN: Grace under pressure.

GURUNG: So I know they are very spiritual and they will get through this.

BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. Nice to meet you.

GURUNG: Very nice to meet you as well.

BALDWIN: Next here on CNN, we got talk about Boston, as well today, where the defense has begun its effort to try to argue that the jurors should spare the life of the Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. You are watching CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:34] BALDWIN: It is live or death for convicted Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as his defense team takes its term now in Boston.

Let's go to CNN national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick, who is live there outside that federal courthouse.

Deborah, let's begin, the defense spending a lot of time talking about the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. They argued he was the one calling the shots.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's exactly right. And the defense today, they are not talking about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They are talking about his brother, Tamerlan. They're talking about, if it were not for him, the Boston Marathon bombing would never have happened.

On the stand right now is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's mother-in-law. Tamerlan married her daughter, Catherine, who for a while was also under suspicion about her involvement in this attack. The mother-in-law saying she did not like Tamerlan, that he was aggressive, that when she found out that he cheated on her daughter, she tried to break up the relationship. Even Catherine's college room mates were actually saying that they feared that Catherine was falling under. So they pointed out Tamerlan to be bad guy, anybody who came into his path really ended up sort of wrecked, and that's the point they're trying to make today -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Deborah Feyerick, thank you.

Coming up, Bruce Jenner. Did you watch? Announcing he is in the process of transitioning to become a woman. We'll talk to someone who went through that same process. What she says Bruce has ahead of him as his life changes in the public eye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:01] BALDWIN: Olympic champion, Bruce Jenner, the patriarch of the Kardashian clan, revealed on national television he's transgender. This incredible athlete, who won the gold, showed his courage during an interview on "ABC News" with Diane Sawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE JENNER, OLYMPIC CHAMPION: Here I am stuck -- and I hate the word, you know, girl stuck in a guy's body. I hate that terminology.

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Why?

JENNER: I'm me. I'm me. I'm a person. This is who I am. I'm not stuck in anybody's body. It's just who I am as a human being. My brain is much more female than it is male. It's hard for people to understand that. But that's what my soul is.

I look at it this way, Bruce always telling a lie. So, therefore, told a lie his whole life about who he is. And I can't do that any longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: After that interview Friday night, so many people praised Bruce Jenner for bringing attention to this community.

Let's bring in a transgender woman doing the same thing, sharing her personal story. She has been for quite a while. She's Kimberly Reed, once a high school quarterback, now a film maker. Her film, "Prodigal Son," is a family history that marks her coming out in more ways than one. Here's a preview

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY REED, TRANSGENDER WOMAN & FILMMAKER (voice-over): Looks like a fairy tale childhood but appearances can be deceiving. After high school, I left for San Francisco, then New York. I never stopped loving my home, but I never really returned. I thought I put my past behind me. But 20 years later, I decided to go back for my high school reunion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kimberly Reed is with me now.

Kimberly, it's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much.

REED: Good to be with you.

BALDWIN: Obviously, I want to get your reaction to the Bruce Jenner interview. But first, for people who are not familiar with your story, from a small Montana town, high school football quarterback. What happened? How do you feel?

REED: I can really relate to Bruce and I'm going to say Bruce because those are the pronouns and name he has chosen for now, although that can become a complicated issue. But, yeah, I can really relate to Bruce's story because I -- I didn't make it quite as long as he did. I only lasted through basically high school. But, yeah, it was just really hard to feel like I was acting in a way where I was trying to impress everybody else. I found it actually very comforting to have this set of rules that athletics provided that made it very simple. It said, do this, do that, and get this ball across that line. That's all you have to worry about. For me, it was a way to kind of turn my brain off and not think about all these other complicated things that were really going on.

BALDWIN: I want to get into that because you think of the epitome of masculinity, being the high school quarterback or the decathlete, the gold medalist at the Olympics. So first to the interview. 17 million people watched Friday night. I watched. You watched. You told me at commercial break you were stunned. Why. REED: Like a lot of transpeople, like a lot of people that weren't trans, I was afraid it would go wrong. I was afraid Jenner would come across in an uncomfortable manner. But I was proven wrong right off the bat. I think, you know, when the tears came and he said --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Taking the hair out of the rubber band.

REED: Out of the pony tail. It was great. He was like, let's get into this. What I saw was somebody who was really authentic and genuine and, you know, somebody that just inspired a lot of compassion in me and a lot of people, and that's what -- that's really what it's about.

I tell stories, whether it's in film or story telling or writing or whatever, I tell stories as a transperson so that I can bring people into the world of someone who is trans, let them see the world through those eyes, and then forget that they are seeing the world through those eyes. It's somebody they though of as this other but then they realize it's just another human being and I can see the world through their eyes, we have the same concerns and hopes and wishes. And especially like if you look at what's going on today with all the headlines of all the really tragic stuff that's going on, I think it's important to remember that, you know, nobody is losing blood here.

(LAUGHTER)

[15:00:09] It's going to be OK. One of the things that Bruce said in the interview was let's keep a sense of humor about this. And I think that is also really good idea.