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Taiwan Earthquake Coverage; Syrians Flee Aleppe; Trump Cannot Get into New Hamsphire Due to Winter Weather. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired February 06, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:11] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A frantic search for survivors after an earthquake strikes Taiwan. Buildings flatten and vehicles crushed in the Southern city of Tainan. We'll take you there for a live report.

Plus an exodus from Northern Syria's biggest city, another wave of humanity now under fires is deserting Aleppo, once the country's commercial hub.

And frozen out, why in the Republican favorite for the next week New Hampshire primary said, he couldn't get back into the state to campaign.

These all we had here on CNN NEWSROOM. Hello, everyone. We're live in Atlanta. Thank you for being with us. I'm Natalie Allen.

ALLEN: And we begin in Taiwan. Where hundred of rescue workers are coming to the rabble of flatten buildings in Tainan in Southern Taiwan right now, looking for people who may still be trapped alive in all of that debris that you see. A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake jolted the city before dawn Saturday as many left.

Right now the confirmed death tolls stands at seven one of the buildings that crumbled was a 17 story residential complex. And rescuers have pulled more than 200 people out alive including a mother and her two children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The rescuers broken floor by floor. In the beginning, they told us to try climbing out. I told them my two kids were too little to do that. Then they had to cut open a bigger hole. And one of the rescuers was able to get in and help me get my kids out and then climbed out myself slowly.

I was definitely determined to get my kids out, definitely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And she did. We're happy to say. Evelyn Chen is a reporter with CNN Affiliate Set T.V. and she joins us now on the phone. She is in Tainan.

And Evelyn, what can you tell us about the scene there in Tainan. And the continued search for people who maybe alive but trapped. EVELYN CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we are still have to see in Tainan right now and so far. As we know, there are already five dead in this 17 story residential tower. And two more from the other places both hopefully seven dead already. But as where we are right now, doctors and rescue is on relay.

But does the situation needs is getting critical and critical here because the collapsed building is still just waiting to the north side here worrying it will fall again. The authority try to build up a pile of huge concrete bridge to hold the building.

Meanwhile, they will also use edge bins to support the structure so that they can keep saving lives. Now rescuers use soft (ph) and equipments to pick up weaker signs applied among those rabbles but the side is weaker and weaker.

And oh, right now, this woman right now. There have a small aftershock right now happening here. But as we say, as we mentioned that rescue team are very urgent to save lives. But the life signal is weaker and weaker. And despite -- and then eight people are still waiting to be rescued right now.

And one of the rescue team member although said they have located a serious injured survivors. But, he's dad is under the rabble. So they softly (ph) bring some water and bread for him. And then they are worried that he take -- he can survive but right now, that effort is really critical because they are worrying this collapsed building will fall again because the earthquake was very shallow now. So they are worried that it will happen again.

Meanwhile, there are some small aftershocks. So they are really worried. But right now, the most important thing is to save as many lives as possible.

ALLEN: And as you speak Evelyn and thank you. This is a live video. We're showing our viewers of this collapsed building and the workers there working to see if there's anyone else that they can pull out. So you said that while you were talking, there was an aftershock. How many aftershocks have they've been experiencing while they tried to work this situation?

CHEN: Actually, I got here at around 9:00 am in the morning. And from 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, they had no aftershocks at all. Only, well the aftershock is about 7:00 in the morning and 5:00. But, while we are talking on the phone, there were small ones. But so far I think that aftershock is over already. I think.

[03:05:25] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Evelyn Chen for us there in China. We really appreciate your reporting Evelyn. Thank you.

We want to turn to Syria with thousands of civilians have managed to escape the city of Aleppo to save their lives. And now thousands of these people as you can see here. Families are trying to cross into Turkey.

The Syrian regime, the government with Russian air support is fighting rebels to retake Aleppo which is Syria's former economic powerhouse. The U.N. says, more than 300,000 civilians remain in Aleppo. Syrian forces though have cut off supply lines. So there are fears of a humanitarian disaster there in Aleppo.

For more, here is Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Syrian forces closing in on the key northern city of Aleppo.

Back fire Iranian fighters in a relentless Russian air campaign, the intense fighting is barking a massive exodus of thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives.

Today Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russian air strikes have slaughtering civilians.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: In some cases, after the bombing has taken place, when the workers have gone in to try to pull out the wounded, the bombers come back and the kill the people that are pulling out the wounded. This has to stop. Nobody has any question about that.

SCIUTTO: The Syrian events in Aleppo is a dramatic turn around for Bashar al-Assad.

This regime appeared to be in danger of tippling only months ago. For President Putin joined the fight. And it comes at the expense of the moderate free Syrian army back fired the U.S. compromising the peace process and hope for the ceasefire.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Intense Russian air strikes mainly targeting opposition groups in Syria is undermining the efforts to find a political solution to the conflicts.

SCIUTTO: Now Saudi Arabia may soon join the fight. Saudi officials announcing a massive military exercise with some 20 Arab countries in preparation for possible military action on the ground inside Syria, it's a move U.S. official say, they would welcome.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They have a pretty advanced military in Saudi Arabia and they have special operations forces that do have a unique capabilities that could advance the goals of our Counter-ISIL campaign.

SCIUTTO: Still Saudi ground force would make an already crowded battlefield even more complex.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), COL., CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The complexity of the Syrian Civil War is beyond anything that we have seen in the last 50 years. By comparison, Vietnam go for a one, go for a two. All of them are cake waxed compared to what's going on in Syria now.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: Well he said it. Didn't he? And now we have thousands and thousands more headed for the border to get out of Aleppo. And of course they joined millions more who are refugees and migrants.

And we have this story as well. After risking everything and spending thousands of dollars to flee Iraq. There has been a rush of refugees from Iraq now returning home. And they say, going back to uncertainty in Iraq is better than the conditions they have faced in Germany.

Here's our Senior International Correspondent Atika Shubert with that story.

ATIKA SHUBERT, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Starting at about 9:00 a.m. every morning, a two forms of bunch of Berlin's Iraq embassy. A line of refugees, but given up on their dreams of Germany and now, want to go home. It costs $6,000 for this man to get on a crowded smugglers boat, Turkey to Greece ...

Most of the Iraqis here want to go back 90 percent, he told us. Here, there's only bread and cheese. We can't live like this. I would tell people, don't come, you'll regret it.

Rain or shine, there is always a much longer wait at Berlin's social services. Some are here to register their asylum applications. Others have medical claims or unemployment benefits to process. Some refugee applications take a just a month to clear. But many can take a year or more await so long that some refugees are now suing the German government.

And now, Germany has ruled their refugees may have to wait two years before their families can join them.

[03:10:03] Mind numbing bureaucracy, cold winters, strange food, a language and customs that many year trying hard to understand. For an increasing number of Iraqis heading back to their work toward home is a better option.

Every week there is now direct flight from Berlin Airport to Erbil and Baghdad and according to Iraqi Airways they say, in some place as many as 30 percent of the passengers are refugees who want to go home.

Yeah, the mood is good at Iraqi Airways tracking many of those inline are Kurdish showing off their temporary passports currently issued by the Iraqi embassy.

I'm going back to my family this man tells us, it's a surprise I didn't tell them. I'm just going to knock on the door and then they will know I'm home.

Since September Iraqi Airways had had at least 100 refugees flying home every week and the number is rising. A ticket cost about $250 that's a bargain compared to the $9 thousand Mohammed (ph) spend to be smuggled into Germany. Today's he lives bitterly disappointed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Honestly it's a joke he tells us, we heard it would be wonderful here, but it wasn't it's very crowded and it gets worst as more people come. The bureaucracy is slow many applications are not even accepted in the end because too many people are coming in and that's the reason I'm leaving he said.

SHUBERT: For some Iraqis it seems their dream is a one way ticket back home.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: That's it, unreal their journey and after all of that going back. While meantime several anti refugee demonstrations are being held Saturday across Europe. The marches are protesting what they call the Islamization of the west. And we will be covering those.

Well, El News; Internationalno is causing a lot of weather headaches all over. But the worst effects of it may take months to be realized.

Our Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam has been checking into that part, the El Nino story for us.

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Oh Natalie from one humanitarian crisis to another. El Nino is having a dramatic impact on food, security and hunger across the world.

In fact the United Nations estimates about 87 million people will require some sort of humanitarian aid in 2016 a low and a large percentage of that coming from the disastrous effects of El Nino.

Take a look at some of this footage coming out of North Africa. You can see just how bad the drought is throughout this region.

According to a Reuters report hunger caused by El Nino has named as one of the top humanitarian crisis faced by A groups just in 2016 alone and they're all has to do with food, security. You can see people gathering their water there.

Some people in Southern Africa actually have to travel up to six hours just to get fresh drinking water. Can you imagine?

Now, let's focus in on Southern Africa where 66 percent or two-thirds of the corn belt is actually severely threatened by this ongoing drought we're coming off of a very dry 2014, 2015 was extremely warm and extremely dry, now we have our strong El Nino in place and that is impacting weather patterns significantly causing a suppression of rain fall over Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, into Botswana in the eastern sections of South Africa, their bread baskets of this particular region.

Look how dry an area the latest satellite loop is very little moisture in place across this region, it's not only South Africa and Southern Africa, it's also the Sahel region into North Africa where one in six people will not have enough food to eat throughout 2016. Some of the local organizations in countries are trying to offset the drought certain areas by implanting some indigenous forestry into that area to help with some of that agriculture and the water supply there. Now we're also look into Indonesia as well as Latin-America, other places across the world being impacted by El Nino and drought conditions.

Take a look at the ongoing drought, it is severe in Columbia, this is something that humanitarian aid organizations across the world will focus in on 2016 because the effects could be disastrous.

ALLEN: Another country that have a Zika virus epidemic and you were telling us that El Nino might be a cause of that as well, the heat.

All right, Derek thanks.

VAN DAM: Thanks Natalie.

Well, still to come here are things are getting tense between the Democratic contenders in the U.S. presidential race. What they're saying to each other, just days before the next big vote.

[03:14:51] That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: All right it's getting to be crunch time again on the U.S. presidential campaigns trial like it will be for the next several months won't it?

The New Hampshire primary is Tuesday and a lot is at stake for many of the contenders. No Republican has won the presidential nomination in the modern era without first winning either the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire Primary.

Well on the Democratic side, it's happened just twice, so the pressure is on big time.

Republican candidates and blanketing New Hampshire in the final push to the Primary except for Donald Trump who was blaming snow for cancelling at least one event. The real estate mobile is currently leading in the polls but his Republican rivals are not too far behind.

Here is Senior White House Correspondent, Jim Acosta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the way I'm number one in New Hampshire. Will you please keep me there this is ridiculous.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After deciding to fly back to New York and spend last night at home, Donald Trump learned a cold heart lesson in New Hampshire politics.

Sometimes it snows. This private plane stuck in New York Trumps scrapped his loan event of the day in New Hampshire twitting big storm moved my events in Monday. Instead, Trump released a video message from his office praising New Hampshire's motto "Live free or die."

TRUMP: It means liberty. It means freedom. What a great slogan. Congratulations New Hampshire wonderful job.

ACOSTA: Jeb Bush muck Trump on Twitter noting his mom Barbara Bush is still breathing the elements, saying my 90-year-old mother made it out to campaign.

BARBARA BUSH, MOTHER OF JEB BUSH: Vote for Jeb.

ACOSTA: Candidates charging through the preprimary snow is a New Hampshire tradition. Marco Rubio joked the real estate tycoon was behind the winter storm.

MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll make America snow again, right.

ACOSTA: A new CNN WMUR poll finds Trump's lead in New Hampshire may be melting. His JOP rivals are catching up with nearly as third of the voter surveyed undecided. And Rubio who was surged to second place to be is taking a pounding.

Jeb Bush is knocking Rubio's complains about attacks coming from other contenders as childish.

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's so unfair and, you know, it's not ...

ACOSTA: The publisher of the New Hampshire union leader who's endorsed Chris Christie pilled on. "Rubio just got out of daycare." Adding, "I don't think he's got the gravitas that any of the three governors still in the race have."

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT : Experience and judgment count in the Oval Office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeb Bush is a leader who will keep our country safe.

ACOSTA: Bush is counting his experience in study nets from add featuring his brother the former president to his mother the former first lady, hitting Trump.

BARBARA BUSH: I'm not getting to speak naturally I make it speak further than I can.

ACOSTA: Barbara Bush told CBS her son is just too polite compared to Trump.

TRUMP: We're going to knock -- out of ISIS. I will knock ...

JEB BUSH: I don't think a president would ever shouted profanities on the speech in front of thousands of people with kids on the crowd.

[03:20:05] ACOSTA: But Mrs. Bush told CNN's Jaime Gangel she isn't wasting any energy thinking about her son's nemesis.

BARBARA BUSH: I'm not crazy but what he says about women I don't even think about him. I'm sick of him. That's very strong (END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Barbara Bush never shy to get her opinion.

Saturday is the final Republican debate before the New Hampshire Primary. Make sure you join us for our special post debate coverage you can see at noon Sunday at Hong Kong.

Well on the Democratic side the candidates have been pretty civil with each other until now as they put it all on the line in New Hampshire and Bernie and Hillary are starting to go after each other just a bit more. Here is Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The calendar might show four days until the New Hampshire Primary, but Hillary Clinton is already looking beyond the fight for the nomination.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will call Senator Sanders, the first call I will make. I'm so fortunate as to get this nomination. We have a lot of work to do. I look forward to working with him as a partner in the senate.

JOHNS: And today Bernie Sanders is decrying the role of money and politics.

BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People are obsessed with raising money it is getting worst because of citizens united. So I think we need to move to a public funding of elections.

JOHNS: The fight between these two Democrats is growing more intense, Hillary Clinton airing an ad at New Hampshire jabbing Sanders for his idealistic proposals.

CLINTON: The American people can't afford to wait for ideas that sounds good on paper, but will never make it in the real world.

JOHNS: And then their final debate before voters head to the poll's Tuesday, Clinton and Sanders engaging in a series of feisty exchanges.

CLINTON: I think it's time to end a very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent ring and let's talk about the issues.

ACOSTA: Continuing to trade barbs over which of them is the true progressive.

CLINTON: For getting to labels, I don't think it was particularly progressive to vote against the Brady bill five times.

SANDERS: One other things we should do is not only talk the talk or walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super Pac, who is not ...

JOHNS: Clinton calling out Sanders for repeatedly saying her campaign takes money from big banks and special interests.

CLINTON: And enough is enough. If you got something to say, say it directly, but you will not find that I ever change a view or a vote because of any donations that I ever received.

JOHNS: And assuring voters there will be no more surprises in the e- mail controversy hanging over her campaign.

CLINTON: You know, before it was e-mailed it was Benghazi. And the Republicans were steering up so much controversy about that.

And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I am absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever.

JOHNS: Sanders will step off the trail end and on to the Saturday Night Live stage this weekend where he will appear along side host Larry David who impersonated the candidate earlier this season.

DAVID: I own one pair of underwear that's it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Oh we can enjoy Saturday Night Live impersonation again tomorrow night on Saturday.

Up next here a below-decks tour of the largest container ship that docked in the U.S. fort. I mean you're not going to believe how big this ship is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:25:55] ALLEN: The biggest container ship to ever dock in the U.S. is on its way from China. It's just over 398 meters or 436 yards long. If it was stood on end it would dwarf the Eiffel tower.

CNN's Matt Rivers decided to take a ride. He gives us a glimpse for the massive amounts of cargo exchange between the two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we just landed in the Chinese City of Xiamen and we're in a port here, this is one of the largest ports in the entire country and for the next of days we're going to be spending time on one of the world's largest ship, this is the Benjamin Franklin. It's one of the largest container ships in the world, so let's head up.

So it is a little bit after 4:00 in the morning here in Xiamen as you can see right now we're shipping out -- pulling out of the port heading into the South China Sea getting pushed by some thug boats right now, next stop the port of Ningxia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Few minutes ago at noon a positional scale so we are just going along the China coast going for our next port Ningxia.

RIVERS: So right now we're in the after the ship, but may be what we can show you here is just how deep the ship goes, how tall the sides are it is dozens of meters tall in it's highest point.

Take a look at the containers over there they're stack one, two, three, four, five, six, seven high there and that is something we see across the ship, it really is unbelievable the scale of the operation on board here.

And this as you might imagine is the ships engine room, it is incredibly loud in here, but that make sense when you consider the size of this engine. It's roughly 80 thousand horsepower and it uses about small hundreds tons worth of fuel every single day.

So this would be the part of the ship where you do your best Leonardo Dicaprio, Kate Winslet, king of the world impression, we're on the bow of the ship the very font of the ship. It is just enormous and frankly if you look over the side it's a little trippy feeling. You could see part of ship down there just slicing through the water underneath there.

So after a couple of days on board all in all are very good experience, you know, people actually pay about 100 to 150 Euros a night to stay on cargo ships like this as a part of the vacation, my review not a bad idea as long as you don't mind to smell diesel a little bit along the way.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Ningxia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Unbelievable. That's our news I'll be right back with top story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)