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7.8 Earthquake Rattles Nepal; New Surveillance Video Released from Freddie Gray Arrest; Bruce Jenner: I am a Woman; Calbuco Volcano in Chile Erupts; White House Reviewing Strike that Killed American; More Than 800 Dead After Nepal Earthquake; Transgender Soldier On Life In Military. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired April 25, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:12] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

You are in the NEWSROOM in the 11:00 Eastern hour. Right now -- more on this breaking story.

All right I'm going to go back to my colleagues, Victor and Christi. It looks like we're having some audio problems with my microphone. Can you explain a little bit more about the breaking news that we're following -- well now it looks like -- they have us. We're working it out. That's what we do here. We have problems, and then we work it out, people.

BLACKWELL: We're handing it back.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it. All right.

Breaking news, we are following in Nepal right now. More than 800 people have been killed after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocking that country. The earthquake hit around mid-day local time, the epicenter less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu.

Hours later the area was shaken again with a series of at least 15 aftershocks. The earthquake also triggered landslides on nearby Mount Everest and some of Nepal's ancient historical sites have been devastated.

There's a frantic search now for any survivors among the crumbled buildings. The United Nations in fact is reporting nearly 40 percent of the country has been affected by the earthquake.

Let's get more now on the devastating quake, Ravi Agrawal is CNN's India bureau chief. And he is in Calcutta, India not far from Nepal. So tell me more about what was felt and what kind of efforts are under way right now to try to find any survivors. The many impacted?

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN INDIA BUREAU CHIEF: Well here in Calcutta, obviously we felt some tremors, but the real story is out there in Kathmandu, in Nepal and obviously the epicenter, which is about 50 miles northwest of Kathmandu. As I speak, rescue operations are under way in Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal. This is an extremely difficult operation because on the one hand you have in Kathmandu which is a very sort of cramped, densely populated city. Many buildings have collapsed. People are trapped under the rubble. It is nightfall now. It is also raining. It's extremely difficult to reach people who may still be trapped.

On the other hand, you have situations where in rural Nepal it's very mountainous, very hilly -- people, there's been a lot of damage there as well. So authorities are really struggling to reach people on both ends here. A major crisis for Nepal.

WHITFIELD: Ok. And Ravi, on a good day it is difficult to get to that region. And now we're talking about the kind of assistance on a very huge scale that will be needed. Can you give us an idea of what kind of obstacles are in the way for rescue teams to get into this region and by what means would they be able to get there?

AGRAWAL: Well this is incredibly hard to begin with on a good day as you point out. I mean -- so again, in Kathmandu itself, you know just to put this in context for our viewers, I mean this part of the world, infrastructure tends to be very, very weak. You know, roads aren't as wide. There isn't a robust emergency response system. The police system, the ambulance system, the health care system -- none of these systems are you know what you would imagine them to be in the west.

Well it's very different here in this part of the world in Nepal and India and countries like that. So the struggle is much greater in a place like this, to reach people who may be trapped. You know, phone lines are down. It's very hard for us to reach people there. There's, you know, electricity lines are down. The water supply is down. So you know, the problems just seem to be mounting for Nepali authorities. The airport has been closed. So really it is all hands on deck out there.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. All right. Ravi -- thank you so much. Keep us posted.

Right now we're going to go to Jamie McGoldrick, he is the U.N. country coordinator in Nepal and is heading the U.N.'s humanitarian aid effort on the ground after this earthquake.

So Jamie give me an idea, we just he heard from Ravi who said the airport is closed, it's very difficult to traverse, to get to the hardest-impacted area. How might your teams be getting there?

JAMIE MCGOLDRICK, U.N.: Yes, I mean the actual earthquake was 50 miles north as we said -- the impact in Kathmandu has been quite severe. I mean in the buildings which were up there in this very crowded city, very close to each other, many of the old buildings have collapsed.

[11:05:05] As a result of that, many people trapped in those buildings, many injuries. One of the things we face now is actually trying to get the hospitals able to absorb all the wounded and the people who have suffered in that sense and at the same time, trying to get access into the epicenter of the actual crisis. And the trouble there is the fact that the roads have been badly damaged, landslides and blockages. And some of the areas and the footprint of this earthquake takes up about 40 percent of the country according to the government sources, as a result of that the spread of need is going to be quite dramatic.

The spread of casualties is going to be dramatic as well. I think having the access as your previous caller just mentioned going to make our challenge of the international community supporting the government of Nepal much, much more than you will have in some other situations.

WHITFIELD: So when you mentioned the footprint of this earthquake is 40 percent of the country. I mean that's very vast. What is the kind of equipment and what are the tools that your teams ordinarily would have and how are they going to get their tools and equipment in, given the restrictions of the passes to this earthquake area?

MCGOLDRICK: I'm doing -- the assessment of what's actually needed. Both in Kathmandu in the affected areas and helicopters from the army were sent up to get a look and give us a sense of what the damage (inaudible) to see how many people we can estimate would need assistance.

And then we are looking for medical, looking for shelter, looking for heavy lifting equipment, both search and rescue, but also to clear the roads, to make sure that we can have easy access to the affected areas. And that's the situation we have right now.

We're meeting tomorrow morning again with the government to try and plan how we can go about doing that. Meanwhile, international assistance has started arriving. Some planes coming in this evening from neighboring countries, bringing in some of that much-needed material to do the search and rescue and to do the heavy lifting equipment.

WHITFIELD: So when you mentioned the use of helicopters and you know, you need heavy lifting kind of equipment in order to be brought in, are we talking about some of the personnel rescuers, actually being rappelled into this earthquake areas by way of helicopters?

MCGOLDRICK: The roads to those areas are quite basic at the best of times. Not knowing what the situation is on the ground, can you only imagine they've been damaged in some way.

Otherwise as a result of that, we're going to need to have some sort of capacity to actually get to those sites and assess the areas but ore importantly to get to the sites to deliver much-needed assistance. And the assistance required will be in some cases quite heavy. How we're going to do that would not be by helicopter so it's going to have by roads, so having the heavy equipment to clear the roads and get that work done in repairing, which have been damaged. It's something we have to factor into our response equation.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jamie McGoldrick thank you so much. We know you have a lot of work to do. Keep us posted as you are able to do so. Thank you so much and all the best. All right. Meantime, other new developments today in the death of

Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland. That city's police department has just released new video from city surveillance cameras that they say could help with the investigation. It shows some of the moments before and during Gray's arrest. This comes after a huge admission from Baltimore police that the commissioner admitted that officers made inexcusable mistakes in the arrest of Gray who died days after he was taken into custody.

All of this today as protesters are expected to show up demanding answers and vowing to shut down the city in a massive rally.

CNN's Joe Johns is live for us right now in Baltimore. So, Joe, are the demonstrators who are planning to gather, are any expressing that they are relieved, or do they feel like the video has in any way kind of closed some of the gaps or filled some of the holes?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think organizers of the protests today have called for the arrest of police officers involved in the situation that led to Freddie Gray's death. So it doesn't sound as though everybody is satisfied with the information that's come out so far. But we'll hear more today.

It is certain that police are concerned at this stage, that there might be traffic problems in the city on a Saturday evening. In the afternoon of course you'll certainly have a lot of people out and about. And then you'll have a big rally and a march through the streets. That's going do create challenges for police.

Meanwhile, Fred, we do know that we have new information and some new pictures from the many surveillance cameras around Baltimore city.

[11:10:02] Now adding a little bit more detail to what we know about the day Freddie Gray was taken into custody.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: New video from Baltimore police showing different angles on the arrest and transportation of Freddie Gray, the camera views released on the police department's YouTube page.

ANTHONY BASTTS, BALTIMORE POLICE COMMISSIONER: The video footage of every CCTV camera that may have caught even a single moment of the incident is under review.

JOHNS: One clip shows Gray interacting with police. Minutes later the same camera shows the arrest scene with the police transport van. From another camera, a police van is seen stopped and another prisoner loaded. The footage is from hundreds of surveillance cameras in the area as police try to piece together the video timeline.

BATTS: We're refining our investigation, we're getting closer, and the picture is getting sharper and sharper as we move forward.

JOHNS: But the surveillance video released is not as sharp as the video that was shot by eye witnesses on April 12th, showing Gray's arrest. Less than an hour after he was detained, officers transporting him called for a medic. Gray subsequently slipped into a coma, dying a week after his initial arrest. The surveillance video comes as police admit mistakes were made.

BATTS: We know he was not buckled in the transportation wagon as he should have been. No excuses for that, period. We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times.

JOHNS: And in the strongest language yet Baltimore police talking about possible charges against officers for the death of the 25-year- old.

BATTS: If someone harmed Freddie Gray, we're going to have to prosecute them. And so, giving too much information out to you on the front here now may jeopardize that prosecution.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Two challenges now ahead for police in Baltimore dealing with whatever crowds may develop here today and again on Monday during the funeral. They also have to wrap up that investigation as they've said before next Friday -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right Joe Johns, keep us posted -- thank you so much. Again hundreds of people expected to take to the streets of Baltimore later on today.

Here's a quote now -- I have the soul of a woman. Those are the words from Olympic gold medalist and reality TV star, Bruce Jenner. His interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC aired last night.

It, of course, confirmed speculation that he will soon transition from male to female. But there were some surprises along the way: deeply personal revelations about past marriages, struggles with thoughts of suicide. And then the answers to why now at the age of 65. Jenner says this is his life's new purpose.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE SAWYER, ABC HOST: Are you sorry you did that show? All this time you had something --

BRUCE JENNER, FORMER OLYMPIC CHAMPION: I had the story. We have done 425 episodes, I think over almost eight years now. And the entire run, I kept thinking to myself -- oh, my God -- this whole thing, the one real true story in the family was the one I was hiding and nobody knew about it. The one thing that could really make a difference in people's lives was right here in my soul. And I could not tell that story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We'll be talking so much more about Jenner's comments later on this hour. I'll also speak with Shane Ortega. Ortega is the first openly transgender person to serve in the U.S. Military. We'll ask him about Jenner's interview and what it means for him and the transgender community.

We're also following the breaking news out of Nepal where hundreds are dead following a major earthquake. We'll have more on that in a moment.

Also ahead -- the nervous waiting in Chile as everyone keeps a close watch on this erupting volcano. CNN's Shasta Darlington is there live for us following it all -- Shasta.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Fred, Calbuco is still smoking while here in Ensenada people are trying to pick up literally buckets of ash. I want you to look at this -- ash is not the fluffy stuff you think it is. It's like gravel. More details after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We're following breaking news out Nepal today. More than 800 people have died after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the country. The epicenter was less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu. And hours later the area was shaken again with a series of at least 15 aftershocks. The earthquake also triggered landslides on nearby Mount Everest and there is a frantic search going on right now for survivors among the crumbled buildings. The United Nations is reporting that nearly 40 percent of the country has been affected by this earthquake.

We're also monitoring the volcano erupting in southern Chile. Plumes of smoke and ash can be seen for miles. Thousands have fled their homes. The Calbuco volcano is near a tourist destination of Puerto Montt.

CNN's Shasta Darlington is in Chile just a few miles from the volcano. You're a few miles away, yet you are surrounded by the ash.

DARLINGTON: That's right. That's right -- Fred. I'm right here in Ensenada this is one of the first towns that was evacuated. They've let families and emergency workers back in. They're scrambling to pick up the piles of ash at the same time, that they're waiting for a possible third eruption. Really keeping people here on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARLINGTON: These days, all eyes in southern Chile on the Calbuco Volcano, watching and waiting.

We finally made it into Puerto Montt, it's taken a while -- None of the airline would was fly in for at least 24 hours.

DARLINGTON: The volcano erupted for the first time in more than 40 years on Wednesday. A second eruption just a few hours later. Now we work our way closer to the still-smoldering crater. Past one -- two -- three check points to get into the exclusion zone.

We're finally in Ensenada. This town is completely blanketed in ash, it's hard to breathe when you roll down the windows. The sheep, the cattle they've been left behind, so trying to get them out now but if you just look ahead. There are just clouds of ash wherever we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: This was one of the first towns evacuated. Residents now allowed back for a short time to clean the ash off their houses, and save what they can.

[11:20:02] "The first thing we did was to grab the dogs and run," he says. "Now we're cleaning up because it's going to rain soon and it will make the ash very heavy."

Friends and family, scrambling to clean off roofs before they collapse under the weight.

DARLINGTON: Literally buckets of ash fell on the town of Ensenada. But when we're talking about ash, it's not soft and fluffy, it's like gravel. It fell so fast and so heavy that people just dropped what they were doing.

Right here at this restaurant, they were preparing a meal. They left the pots, the pans, the food is still sitting out.

Now bracing for a possible third eruption that experts warn could be on its way. Ash covers the landscape here like a blanket of snow. And always in the background, Calbuco, once again sending up smoke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: Now what people are doing here, Fred, is not only cleaning up the ash, but also coming back in to get the animals. This is a rural area. We were just with one family, they were herding the cattle down the mountain. We've seen trucks going by filled with salmon. They take these water trucks over to the fisheries, put the salmon in and try to get them out so they don't die along with so much of the landscape here. And again, at the same time that there is still a high alert. We could have a third eruption at Calbuco and another volcano about 200 miles away, Via Rica is starting to heat up -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh my Goodness so a double threat there. That's very serious,

All right. Thank you so much Shasta Darlington, appreciate it. We'll keep you abreast of things so you keep us abreast as well.

All right by now you probably heard about it, Bruce Jenner's stunning interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNER: My brain is much more female than it is male. It's hard for people to understand that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, we take a closer look at his interview and the message that he is sharing with others who are struggling.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:48] WHITFIELD: The White House has launched review of a drone strike that killed two al Qaeda hostages, one of them an American. The two were being held at a location along the pakistan/Afghanistan border. President Obama has apologized to the family of Warren Weinstein, the American who was killed.

I want to bring in David Rohde in New York. He is a CNN global affairs analyst and a Reuters investigative journalist who also spent almost a year himself as a prisoner of the Taliban.

Good to see you, David.

DAVID ROHDE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So as a former hostage, you eventually escaped in Afghanistan. How much, though, along the way did you think about the possibility of being killed, not just by your captors, but possibly during any rescue attempt?

ROHDE: There was an issue about rescue attempts, but the drone strikes were being carried out when I was a captive as well. And there was a drone strike right outside a house where I was being held captive. There was a car driving by with some militants in it and the drone hit the car and killed seven people inside of it. They were militants. It was so close that the force of the missile strike blew out the plastic covering a window in the room where I was standing. So you know, it was a threat in my case and that threatened tragically the life of Warren Weinstein.

WHITFIELD: So what were your thoughts when you heard this week that in January, this was the fate of Warren Weinstein and the Italian who was also being held hostage? What were your thoughts about what they endured and did you draw any parallels to what your experience was?

ROHDE: I'm amazed that Warren Weinstein survived for three afteryears, he was 73 years old and a civilian aid worker, I blame his captors most of all. But there's a problem with the kind of drone strike that resulted in Warren's death. It's called a signature strike. It's based solely on what the operators of the drone see as the movements of people on the ground. There's a separate kind of strike called a personality strike where there's specific information about a specific militant commander in that house.

The administration and the President promised to reduce the use of these signature strikes, which are less accurate two years ago. They clearly haven't done that. And I think there needs to be a look at maybe ending the use of these signature strikes. They've killed civilians in other cases and now they've killed Warren Weinstein and this Italian captive.

WHITFIELD: At the same time do you agree with some military analysts who will say you know sadly an outcome like this is always a possible outcome. Because when you talk about counterterrorism efforts and when you talk about the volatility of it all, and it's difficult to trust all the intel that comes on the ground, that there's always a pretty good possibility that this kind of outcome could happen?

ROHDE: I think there is a possibility. I think that drone strikes are generally accurate. I think they should continue. But the statistics, no one really knows, the government can also be more open about the drone strikes when they occur and how many victims they think are militants versus civilians. It looks like at least 10 percent of the victims are civilians.

And again this simple change and the signature strikes, you can't really tell who is on the ground based on the way they walk around or the way they're moving as groups. I just think it's not reliable. And you continue the strikes, but do the personality strikes where you have specific information about an individual.

There's a way to go forward, think that's more prudent.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Rohde, thank you so much. j us from New York, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Next, the interview that so many had been waiting to hear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNER: My brain is much more female than it is male. It's hard for people to understand that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Bruce Jenner revealing he is transitions to a woman. More of his gripping conversation with Diane Sawyer -- straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We're following this breaking news out of Nepal. More than 800 people have died after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the country. The epicenter was less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu. Hours later the area was shaken again with a series of at least 15 aftershocks. The earthquake also triggered landslides on nearby Mount Everest.

And there's a frantic search going on right now for survivors among the crumbled buildings. And we've learned that just in the last few minutes that the United States is sending a disaster response team to the area.

All right, now to another big story that everyone is talking about today, Olympic gold medalist and television reality star, Bruce Jenner, is confirming that he is indeed transitioning into a woman. Jenner came out publicly as transgender in a lengthy interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer that aired last night. CNN's Dan Simon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE JENNER, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: 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.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bruce Jenner, the Olympic gold medalist turned reality star, confirming the tabloid speculation that he's transitioning from a man to a woman speaking openly to Diane Sawyer in a highly publicized ABC special.

DIANE SAWYER, ABC: Are you a woman?

JENNER: Yes, for all intents and purposes, I am a woman. People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male. But the heart and soul of everything that I do in life, it is part of me, that female side is part of me. That's who I am.

[11:35:13] SIMON: Jenner firmly dismissing skeptics that this is some sort of a stunt to promote another reality show documenting his change. He said he knew he was different at 8 years old when he began trying on his mother's dresses.

JENNER: Are you telling me I'm going to go through a complete gender change, OK, and go through everything you need to do that for the show -- sorry, Diane, it ain't happening, OK? We're doing this for publicity -- yes, right.

SIMON: The 65-year-old who has been married three times said his former spouses knew about his issues. Sawyer is asking the obvious question.

SAWYER: Are you gay?

JENNER: No, I am not gay. I am as far as I know I'm heterosexual.

SAWYER: You don't know. You mean as far as you know?

JENNER: As far as I know, I've never been with a guy. I've always been married, raising kids.

SAWYER: And you could desire a woman every bit as much?

JENNER: Yes, yes.

SIMON: For children of the '70s and '80s, Bruce Jenner was the guy on the Wheaties box, the greatest athlete on the planet. For millennials, he's been more reality star as the steady male presence of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians." He joked that a secret was the one story that truly matters.

JENNER: The entire run, I kept thinking to myself, my god, this whole thing, the one real true story and the family was the one I was hiding, and nobody knew about it. The one thing that could really make a difference in people's lives was right here in my soul. And I could not tell that story. SIMON: He says he hasn't decided whether to do a sex change. For now, it's been cosmetic surgery combined with female hormones. Jenner says his children, ten of them between his biological and stepchildren have largely been supportive, several appearing by his side.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just held his hand and I cried with him and I just told him how proud of him I was and how inspired I was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing I thought was just like, it finally makes sense.

SIMON: As for why go through this change now when most his age are looking forward to a less stressful, less dramatic life --

JENNER: I couldn't take the walls constantly closing in on me. If I die, which I could be diagnosed next week with cancer and boom, be gone. I'd be so mad at myself that I didn't explore that side of me, you know? I don't want that to happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: Now with this revelation, Jenner is now certainly the most famous transgendered person on the planet. He says he wants to be an inspiration for others going through similar identity issues and he says he wants to change the world by speaking openly about his transformation. Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

WHITFIELD: All right, and still to come -- the first out transgender person to serve in the U.S. military weighs in on Bruce Jenner's comments and recounts his own very unique journey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:41:56]

WHITFIELD: All right, more now on the interview that has so many people talking this morning. Olympian and television star, Bruce Jenner, revealing to ABC's Diane Sawyer that he is transitioning from male to female. Jenner is not alone.

A recent study estimates that nearly one million Americans are transgender. Meaning they identify as a gender other than the one they were born. Some alter their bodies through hormones and surgery but many do not.

Joining me now via Skype from Oahu, Hawaii, is Sergeant Shane Ortega. He is the first out transgendered soldier in the U.S. military, born a female and now transitioned to a man.

So Sergeant, good to see you. You watched the Bruce Jenner interview, right. How much of what you heard mirrors your experience or at least resonates with you?

SGT. SHANE ORTEGA, FIRST "OUT" TRANSGENDER SOLDIER IN U.S. MILITARY: I'm sorry. Could you repeat that one more time? I was having a little bit difficulty hearing the back side of that. WHITFIELD: So you watched the interview of Bruce Jenner last night, how much of that was something you could identify with? Did it mirror your own experience?

ORTEGA: I thought the interview definitely hit home. It was very truthful. It was not sensationalized and it definitely cut to the straight facts, I definitely felt that it represented the community honestly. And I definitely could identify with the struggle and the fears that Jenner was experiencing while contemplating that transition.

WHITFIELD: So and you said you can identify with those struggles and fears, but for you, did you make that discovery as Bruce Jenner said he really made that discovery at age 8. But it wasn't until very much into his adult years that he came to grips with, he felt in his soul he is a woman. And then began hormone therapy. How did you make that discovery? And at what point did you make that effort?

ORTEGA: I had the good fortune of being exposed to the LGBT community pretty young off so I had already read about transgendered people in the DSMV IV and I had interactions with family members in that profession and psychological profession to know what being transgendered meant.

I personally decided not to transition until later in life because there were goals that I had, one of those goals was to join the United States military and also to, I at that time I didn't feel it was a necessary step for me personally.

WHITFIELD: But when you entered the U.S. military, you entered as a woman and then you transitioned while in the military. And it meant not only did you have to transition, but everyone around you had to transition. What was that experience like and what kind of acceptance or what kind of experiences did you have along the way?

ORTEGA: All right, so when I made the transition, which was back in 2011, I think that everyone around me was definitely understanding. The United States military, whether you think it or not, is actually a pretty progressive place, people are understanding.

[11:45:01] They just want to have good unit cohesion and good team work so as that transition took place there was no negativity or any derogatory remarks of any kind actually even being made. It was more people were wanting to support someone who they thought was a vital member of their team.

WHITFIELD: But then at the same time, U.S. military doesn't completely I guess, respect that that's the right word, your gender transition, because is it not true that the military in some circles considers the transgender experience to be a mental illness?

And that is in large part why they're still asking you or maybe even demanding if that's the right word, that you wear the dress uniform, the uniform dress as opposed to wearing pants. Particularly on special occasions, as U.S. military uniform. ORTEGA: Well to clarify, females in the military don't have to wear skirts. You can elect to wear pants, which I personally like to do. But as far as adhering to good order and discipline, as a soldier that's my upmost important mission with while serving is to have good order and discipline.

So until we are instructed to do otherwise, I'm going to uphold the standard of good order and discipline, no matter what. So my loyalties lie with serving this country and serving my nation in foremost serving the mission of the United States military. I'm not going to ask them for any special favors because I didn't come in to be special. I came in to serve.

WHITFIELD: But the "Washington Post" article on you says that the military does ask or demand that you wear the dress on special occasions. Is that true?

ORTEGA: We do have a tradition in the military that every payday we wear our dress uniforms and so I wear the dress uniform that I am, I came into the gender as. And I follow out and carry that good order and discipline just like any other soldier would.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, does that bring any kind of conflict or even frustration on your part, that not everyone wants to fully recognize that you are a man?

ORTEGA: It is definitely socially awkward. There's, it's definitely socially awkward, there is no good way to put that out there. You have to be patient with people around you. Our society is changing. The military has been in an avenue of change for several years now.

We have desegregation. We have equal pay for both men and women. We have women going into combat. We have gay marriage equality. So the military is changing as our society changes and we are being a great avenue to show that change.

WHITFIELD: Some of the resonating messages from Bruce Jenner's interview. He says that I'm transgender. I'm transitioning does not mean that I am gay. At the same time he says you know, he got tired of living a lie. And that he has felt in his soul that he is a woman. What is the message that you want to convey to people by way of your experience?

ORTEGA: The message I want to convey to people from my experience is one, transgendered people are not mentally ill and they're not unfit for any sort of avenue of profession or unfit to be loved as human beings.

We are all human beings and we all deserve dignity and respect. With my transition I just want to be a beacon of hope and help move forward the human rights within our country. Because the human rights and how we treat people is highly important you know.

If we aren't taking care of that what are we doing as a nation? We are a nation built on change and if we can't change for the better for our future then what are we doing as a society? WHITFIELD: All right, Sergeant Shane Ortega, thanks so much for being with us from Oahu, and thank you as well for your service.

ORTEGA: Thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity. It was very humbling.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:52:37]

WHITFIELD: All right, checking top stories, the last three men accused in the hazing death of a Florida A&M University drum major have been convicted.

A jury found them guilty of manslaughter and hazing with the result of death. They will be sentenced in June. Robert Champion died in November 2011 after beaten on a school bus in a hazing ritual after a football game.

The number of new HIV infections in rural Indiana has grown to 142. The CDC is calling a severe outbreak and says problem stems from uptick of people sharing needles while using illegal prescription drugs in Scott and nearby Jackson Counties, about 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.

And Starbucks computer glitch, now, it's fixed. On Friday, the company's cash registers malfunctioned at 7,000 stores, but many stayed open and customers, they didn't leave disappointed. Guess why? Because their drink orders were filled for free.

All right, we continue to follow breaking news out of Nepal. Hundreds are dead after a devastating earthquake hit near the country's capital. We'll have the very latest for you at the top of the hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": Korea, land of enchantment, land of contrast, land of drinking, a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Korean, you can drink well and recover.

BOURDAIN: We're going to find out, aren't we? I do not love myself this morning, dried skin, M&Ms and mixing alcohols?

Problem for me is I'm generally older than everybody in this country, my glass is always full. This is awesome.

I think he called you liberal attitudes towards scam, good and great culture. Shake that moneymaker. Wait a minute, that's me.

Korea, as I know it anticipates the future very, very well. Did a mention the drinking? We're going to show these American punks. We have what it takes. Tomorrow, be there or be square. That's good!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[11:58:19]

WHITFIELD: Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, hundreds dead as a massive earthquake slams Nepal. Rescuers now desperately searching for those trapped or injured.

Plus, Bruce Jenner's stunning interview --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNER: Have to lie this whole life about who he is and --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The secret he's carried all of his life. Now exposed to the entire world and how his message may help others with the same struggles.

And Baltimore bracing for what could be its biggest day of demonstrations yet, busloads of out of town protesters joining organized rallies vowing to shut the city down.

And new surveillance video of what happened when police arrested Freddie Gray. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Following breaking news from Nepal, a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake has hit that country. More than 800 people dead.

The earthquake hit around midday local time. The epicenter was less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu and hours later the area was shaken again with a series of at least 15 aftershocks.

The tremors also triggered landslides on nearby Mt. Everest. Rescuers are going through the crumbled buildings looking for survivors. The United States is now sending a disaster response team to the area.

Let's get more now on this devastating earthquake. Earlier, I spoke with CNN's Ravi Agrawal from Calcutta, India, not far from Nepal, and I asked him about the rescue and recovery operations.

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RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN INDIA BUREAU CHIEF (via telephone): As I speak, rescue operations are under way in Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal.