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Japan: Aftershocks & Nuclear Fears; Chaos & Confusion in Japan; Doctors Without Borders in Japan

Aired March 12, 2011 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I would like to welcome our viewers from around the world. This is CNN special coverage of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.

I'm Don Lemon.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause. It is noontime Sunday in Japan and the danger from this disaster is far from over. Aftershocks continue to shake the region and now another threat.

LEMON: And Japan's chief cabinet secretary says a meltdown may have happened on at least one reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Facility, and now there's concern that another meltdown could happen at a second reactor -- John.

VAUSE: It's the same plant where an explosion very close to a reactor caused panic several hours earlier. The estimated 80,000 people who live within ten kilometers or six miles of that plant have already evacuated. Another 180,000 people who live within 20 kilometers of the plant, they are fleeing the area today.

LEMON: And John, even though we expect it, it's sad to read, every time we read, it seems that it goes up. Japan's official death toll has just risen to 763, but that number will only climb. The official number of missing people, 639. But one coastal town reports half its population, about 9,500 people are unaccounted for. More than 1,400 people have been injured, and at least 3,000 people have been rescued so far.

And let's go now to our correspondents on the ground in Japan, and we begin with Kyung Lah in Sendai.

Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, let me just give you an idea of what's happening in this one community. This is a residential area and as you can see behind me, many parts of this area have been completely wiped out.

We are a couple of miles away from the sea, and there is mud, there is debris, flattened homes, and if you look to your left here, you can see the force of the tsunami has put one car on top of another. And all these other vehicles that you're seeing there toppled to their side. These cars were not there. They were pushed, pushed many, hundreds of feet here and then just crushed by the debris. If you can look up above, there's a rescue helicopter looking for people. We've seen this throughout the morning. These helicopters are going and seeing who they can pluck out of their homes, if there are people on the rooftops, people who are injured. There are many, many missing people here.

And talking to some of the residents, the figure that we were given is that there are approximately 300 people who are missing. But right now, what residents are telling us is that they think it's going to be higher. That they're not quite sure how many people are missing.

And we ran into somebody here, and I want to -- sorry, stepping over the mud -- introduce you. This is my colleague Hide Sato, and this is a gentleman who lives here. And we're just going to chat with him very briefly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: That's his name and he lives in Futon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He used to live here, but his brother lives here.

LAH: And what happened to his brother and his family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't know. But he hopes they evacuated, but he doesn't know.

LAH: And so he is looking for his relatives right now? Unable to find them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's looking for them to make sure they're here or somewhere.

LAH: How did -- did he see the tsunami? Does he live in Sendai?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: As we take a look around here, because he's just arrived and looking around, what does he see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) LEMON: We're going to continue on with this, but I want our viewers to know that what you're seeing, this is live pictures. This is a live interview by our Kyung Lah, who is in Sendai, and she's speaking with a resident there who is looking for his family members. And now you see he's been affected by this.

VAUSE: He looks stunned, obviously. It's obviously a very difficult time for these people. So let's leave Kyung there as she still speaks to this survivor of the tsunami.

We want to go to Stan right now. He's live for us in Tokyo, where it is coming up to noontime. Just after noontime in Tokyo, 12:00 in Tokyo.

But, Stan, the situation there, we understand there'll be some rolling power blackouts in Tokyo to try to preserve some electricity, is that correct?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this warning has gone out to people, John, to try to preserve electricity. This is a knock-on effect of the nuclear power plants being affected by the quake. You know I think more than a million, perhaps as many as two million people across the affected area lost power as a result of the problems at the reactor. But this is the ongoing nuclear emergency that we've been paying so much attention to, an emergency that has ebbed and flowed.

We've had explosions, we've had various officials giving us different interpretations of what may be going on. Essentially what's happening there is that the reactor is overheating at two of these plants. They haven't been able to bring that under control to be able to cool that, and this has raised speculation of a potential meltdown or a partial meltdown. We've heard about this cesium, this radioactive material that has been seeping into the air, and that could be an indication, according to officials, that the casing around the reactor could be melting as well.

So a lot of different information and a lot of confusion about the terminology, meltdown, partial meltdown, what it could mean. But right now they're taking all precautions, a 20-kilometer, 12 or 13 mile exclusion zone around there. They have evacuated tens of thousands of residents. Iodine has been handed out to people. That can be taken to ward off any impact if you come into contact with radiation. So certainly taking all precautions there. Trying to keep people back while they try to really dig down deep here and try to solve the problem of cooling that reactor -- John.

LEMON: It's Don Lemon here. The concern is that, from people, I've been hearing at least, that they are not so sure about the information that they're getting from those officials. They think the situation, Stan, may be worse than it is. I would imagine when officials get to the ground from IAEA and others that we will know for sure?

GRANT: Well, the Japanese officials have been putting out information fairly constantly. There were a lot of news conferences yesterday, talking to the media, information was coming out. They had that explosion there at one point, which raised speculation that perhaps the explosion could have been in the reactor. They responded fairly quickly to that, to be honest. Within a couple of hours, they came out and said, look, it wasn't the reactor itself, it was the wall surrounding the outer structure, that is where the explosion took place and that's where it happened.

They also put information showing that there were high levels of radiation, eight times the normal limit outside the building, the fence of the building itself, but that that also had been coming down. So there hasn't been a problem in the information flow. It's just, I think, that when you get events happening so quickly, we've had various people on from different agencies, analysts all talking about the potential consequences, worst-case scenarios, I think that creates a sense of confusion in people's minds.

We have different interpretation, as I said, partial meltdown, melting of the casing, perhaps explosions in the reactor. All of these things are thrown into the air, and if you're coming in and out and you're picking up bits of information on the run, you can certainly understand, Don, how that confusion can take place.

VAUSE: OK, Stan, thank very much. Stan Grant live for us there in Tokyo.

LEMON: And now we go to our Gary Tuchman in the north part of the country. He is in a car. He's headed east.

Gary, tell us, where did you start, where are you going to end up and what are you seeing along the way?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, we flew into a town called Shonai, which is on the west coast of northern Japan, along the Sea of Japan. And we're driving about 120 kilometers, which is about 85 miles to the east to Sendai.

And what we're seeing along the drive right now is a lot panic buying. Almost all the gas stations are close within 50 to 75 miles of Sendai. We just found one that's open. But there are at least 100 cars in line right now to get gas. We stopped at a convenience store that we found open. The shelves are totally void of water. There's no water, whatsoever, and very little food. And people are snapping up whatever they can get very quickly.

You know, you can't blame people for being a little panicked. I mean, this is a traumatic and terrifying Trifecta. We're talking about the tsunami, we're talking about the earthquake, we're talking about the nuclear facility. And people are rightfully scared. You know, hopefully in the days to come, things will calm down and people will be more relaxed, but right now it's a very difficult time in this part of Japan.

VAUSE: And, Gary, despite all that panic buying and the situation people are facing right now, we're seeing that famous side of Japan as well. There does seem to be a fairly high degree of social order. It does seem to be, if not calm, at least orderly. Is that correct? TUCHMAN: Oh, no question about that, John. I mean, the Japanese are famous for that, a very orderly and calm society. And people, you know, when I talk about panic buying, people aren't waving their hands above their heads and screaming and yelling. No, it's very orderly and calm, and that's a really good point you bring up. I mean, there's at least 100 cars in line and no one's running out and screaming at other drivers.

I mean, we actually parked nearby to get some pictures, you know, some video of the scene here, and in some places, maybe in my neighborhood, people would start screaming and yelling at me, thinking I'm trying to cut in and get some gas, but here it was just kind of --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hey, Gary, stand by, real quickly. I want to inform our viewers. You're looking at -- this is a new video. And as we said, the sun came up, it's noon, came up a while ago. But, again, each day that passes, you see more of the devastation. You saw some rescues there.

So, Gary, continue, not that the two situations are equivalent, but you remember, you covered it, you remember the gas lines from Katrina and I would imagine, as you said, people are having the same sort of concern, they're left without as we watch these rescues.

TUCHMAN: Well, yes, you bring up a very good analogy, Don. I mean, Katrina and lots of hurricanes I'd cover, we see the same thing, where most gas stations are closed and the ones that are open have huge, long lines.

And you know, one thing you have to be concern about in some of the hurricanes we cover is security. You know, when we cover these stories, we bring lots of cans of gas because we have media vehicles that have to go long distances. And we have to make sure that we don't leave the car alone with the gas cans on top of the car, or sometimes -- and that has happened before, they get taken away. You don't get that sense here in Japan. People are very calm, orderly, but right now, it's a very strange and unique situation. Very sad, too.

VAUSE: OK, Gary, thanks so much.

Gary Tuchman, checking in with us as he makes his away across the country from the west coast to the east coast. He'll be checking in with us throughout that journey. Eventually he will get to Sendai, to the west coast and we'll hear more from Gary.

LEMON: And each time we see the new video coming in, it's breathtaking. You know, your mouth just kind of drops and like, my gosh, what is going on?

And speaking of that, tonight we were able to reach one woman now stranded in Sendai, caring for her mother. Her name is Yasue Schumaker. And she is from Hawaii, but has been living in Sendai for the last six weeks, John. VAUSE: Yes, this was very emotional, this interview. She said that she was in a secure building, and despite her extreme situation, she said that she shouldn't be the priority for rescuers, but she is asking for help for her country. Listen to this.

LEMON: Very emotional. Very emotional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YASUE SCHUMAKER, CALLING FROM SENDAI, JAPAN (via telephone): After I saw the people who got lost their homes or the people who still needing help, I -- I think most of them, they are the ones who need help. So, somehow we can hang in there and hope.

We need -- we don't have any electric, water, gas, and the city just announced it can take 30 days to get gas for everybody. But we definitely need water and food.

But please help the people who lost their homes and still people -- I saw on the news, still people on top of the building asking for help. We need foreign countries' help.

I don't -- I didn't see much news -- I don't know what the prime minister says. I hope they ask, officially ask for help to every countries. And we are in an emergency. And please help us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: And welcome back, everyone. You're watching our continuing coverage of the devastation in Japan. And what's happening at Japan's Daiichi Nuclear Facility is considered the third worst nuclear event on record, at this point.

VAUSE: Yes, it could end up being the worst, but we're talking about a meltdown here. We don't know if it's occurred. We don't know if it's under way, so what exactly does a meltdown mean, and how do nuclear reactors work?

Well, Chad Myers is here with some of those answers.

Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'll do my best.

A meltdown is when the core reactor melts to the point where the heat can't be slowed down anymore. The reaction cannot be slowed down and the whole core melts down and radiation is obviously put out.

There are backups to make this not happen. And there were backups in the plant there in Tokyo or in Japan. Take a look at what's going on and what went wrong.

The core reactor lost its pump to pump cool water through the exchange. And when that happened, 13 generators, 13 backup generators turned on. They all failed because of the tsunami. And so, therefore, this core could not cool itself anymore. They tried, they did everything they could, and now, as we know it, they're pumping seawater, which is certainly not pure water, which you want in a nuclear reactor. You want very, very pure water. They're pumping saltwater into it, couldn't be anything worse, really, to do much to that. They are trying to kill it, and that's what they're doing right now.

It is still very hot. They're doing what they can. They say it's under control. We'll see.

LEMON: All right, Chad, thank you very much.

Let's go to Bill Nye now, the science guy, for further perspective.

VAUSE: Yes, Bill, because of the problems, the loss of power at the Daiichi Nuclear Facility, we're hearing about this substance called cesium, which is being released. What's the significance of that?

BILL NYE, ENVIRONMENTAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, cesium is used to slow and control the nuclear reaction, the fission of these very large atoms of uranium. And so when the cesium can't get in there to slow things down, it gets hotter and hotter and hotter.

Now, when things melt and you see that big cloud of what looks to me like dust and steam, and then somebody reports that there's cesium in the air, if that report is true, that would indicate to me that the thing melted and exploded at some level or splattered into the air, driven by steam.

You know, steam can carry things -- can hold a lot of pressure, a steam engine. This is a steam turbine. It can carry a lot of energy and carry material, particularly particles, a long way. But somebody's got to verify that cesium report to see if it's true.

I've read it at several other news agencies, but I haven't been able to verify it myself. And I also wonder if we can get space assets, weather-style satellites to have a look. And if those instruments can be tuned to detect cesium. With that said, it's a very, very serious situation and it sounds to me it's somewhat more serious than people have announced.

LEMON: All right. Good point. Because for the skeptics who are out there, some people are saying, hey, they don't believe that they're getting the correct information or all the information, especially about the readings from the Japanese officials.

How much, I don't know, confidence can we put in those officials, or are we going to have to wait until the international atomic energy agency and others get there to double and triple-check those readings, Bill?

NYE: I suppose so. And in the meantime, I would approach with caution, just to assert that things are under control when you see an explosion like that is unsettling. Now, at Three Mile Island, TMI, as they whimsically refer to it, there was a small release of radioactive gas and steam. My recollection is it was steam, and that was not good, but quite well managed, all things considered.

There was a lot of trouble bringing the plant back online, but it's working today. This thing sounds way more serious. I mean, that wasn't a small release of material. That was a big deal.

Now, the other thing I understand they're pouring in is boron or borates. Now, boron is another material used to, especially a certain isotope, boron 10 is used to absorb neutrons and slow these reactions down. But I've got to say, that is a pretty doggone extreme thing to be doing, to be pouring some boron-bearing material, like you've heard of borax and so on.

LEMON: Yes.

NYE: That's pretty -- I'm not sure how well that would work when you have steam roiling up and the flow of very high-temperature fluids around. I'm not sure how effective that would be. But they must have had the stuff on hand.

LEMON: Yes. We're going to learn much, much more, Bill --

NYE: Some of the casings are made of this stuff, so it's not unreasonable.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Yes, as this continues to go on. Thank you, Bill.

NYE: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, it's coming up to 12:30 in the afternoon in Japan, and rescuers are searching for survivors.

LEMON: And so are family and friends. And you saw some of them live right here on CNN.

After the break, we'll talk live with a man in Japan trying to find his loved ones. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Many people in Japan right now are dealing with a lot of challenges. Family members may be missing, but they're also finding food, gas, petrol. The basics hard to come by.

LEMON: very hard to come by. And that is the case for Masaki Konno. He lives in Tokyo, and he's joining us by phone.

I understand your relatives who live in the north, you have not been able to get in touch with them.

MASAKI KONNO, SURVIVOR (via telephone): I have been able to get in touch with only one of my aunts in Sendai, but she was quite panicking and she wasn't making too much sense, and it was very difficult to talk to her, and there were a lot of other relatives in her house at that point, and then currently I'm still trying to get in touch with one of my uncles and aunts and some of the cousins.

VAUSE: Exactly where in the north were they? Were they in the path of the tsunami?

KONNO: My father is from a city called Hanaizumi, which is very close to the sea as well as it's on the border of two prefectures that were the most hit, Iwate and Miyagi. So it's right in that area.

VAUSE: I guess the sad thing in this is that the longer it goes on and the longer you haven't heard from them, obviously, the more anxiety builds up.

How are you coping with all of this right now?

KONNO: I think we're -- I've been speaking to some of my other relatives and I spoke to my father back in Canada who's worried about this, and I think we're all trying to remain positive and hope that they've been evacuated to higher ground.

And right now, it's just a matter of getting in touch with them from a technology standpoint and not the fact that they may not be with us. So it's really, just -- right now all the lines are busy, nobody can get in touch with anybody up north, so we have to hope for the best right now and keep on trying.

LEMON: And as you're speaking to us, we're looking at a photograph, I think it's your uncle, who you're not able to get in touch with, and there's another family photograph of your aunt that we have, if we can put that up. That's your uncle right there, but you can't get in touch with them.

Listen, you're saying in Tokyo, in Tokyo, I understand that many of the convenience stores running out of supplies, including water.

How are people dealing with this?

KONNO: You know, I think, you know, we're talking about filling our bathtub up with water. I went to five convenience stores. One of them actually had some water, so I came out there with many bottles of water and stop there. I drove by gas stands today and some are having signs that they don't have anymore gas. So right now it's just a matter of doing what you can, but staying calm and not being too irrational, but at the same time being safe.

VAUSE: Masaki, it's Sunday in Japan right now, tomorrow will be Monday, which normally would be the start of the working week.

Is anybody talking about opening up businesses there, or trying to get back to some kind of normality, at least, in Tokyo?

KONNO: I think in Tokyo, I mean, you're seeing, on television, it's non-stop coverage, but there's word of some of the roads opening up. Its public transportation has been running since Saturday. So it's been on and off. The roads were pretty quiet on Saturday, yesterday. There weren't many people out. I think people were just taking a break. It's hard to tell.

I mean, it's funny, today. It's a beautiful weather, so you want to hope for things to be back to normal, but then you turn on the television and you talk to people and you realize that there's still a lot of the things that are still upcoming and you're not really sure what's going on with the power plant and other different factors that you didn't really consider.

LEMON: You bring up the power plant -- sorry to cut you off there. You bring up the power plant, and I understand your wife has said something about when it rains -- this threat of radiation is very real for people there. What did your wife say to you?

KONNO: She had just had been speaking with friends and I guess from the news, there were, you know, people talking about different scenarios. So that scenario she brought up and some of her friends had been talking about, and if it starts raining and there's some radiation and the rain carries that, so, again, I'm not an expert in that field, it was just something that when you hear about that it's quite scary, and you just want to start thinking about the different what-ifs and brace yourself for it and prepare yourself for it.

LEMON: His wife said -- thank you very much for that, Masaki, as our producers were interviewing him, he said his wife said, people are saying if it rains, they're not going to go outside because they're afraid of the radiation.

VAUSE: A lot of experts saying, too, leave the country because of concerns of radiation.

It's early afternoon in Japan right now, just coming up to 12:30 in the afternoon.

LEMON: And the search for food, for shelter, survivors, of course, still on and will be on for some time.

We're going to go live to our team on the ground. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause.

It is afternoon on Sunday in Japan and the danger from this disaster is far from over. Aftershocks continue to shake the region and now there is another threat.

LEMON: That's right. Japan's chief cabinet secretary says a meltdown may have happened on at least one reactor in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Facility. And now there's a concern that another meltdown could happen at a second reactor. VAUSE: It's the same plant where an explosion very close to a reactor caused panic several hours earlier. The estimated 80,000 people who live within ten kilometers or six miles of that plant have already evacuated. Another 180,000 people live within 20 kilometers of the plant. They are now fleeing the area.

LEMON: And Japan's official death toll has now risen to 763, but that number is only going to climb. The official number of those who are missing, 639. But one coastal town reports half, half of its population, about 9,500 people still unaccounted for. More than 1,400 people have been injured in this, and at least 3,000 people have been rescued so far.

Right to the ground now and our correspondents who are there in Japan. We want to go first to Tokyo, where Stan Grant is standing by.

Stan, what do you know?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don, you mentioned this official from the nuclear safety agency now saying that a meltdown may be occurring in one, perhaps two of the reactors at the Daiichi plant.

Now, meltdown is a word that rings alarm bell, doesn't it, and they've wanted to avoid that throughout this crisis, throughout this nuclear emergency. They've talked about a potential meltdown, a partial meltdown, a meltdown of the casing surrounding the reactor, but now saying a meltdown could be underway inside the reactor at least one, if not two.

Now, inside Daiichi, the plant, there are six reactors. They're talking about the numbers one and three reactors there, perhaps experiencing this meltdown.

Now what does this mean? Of course, people talk about the worst-case scenario, the potential catastrophic consequences. But you must remember that within these facilities, within these power plants and reactors, there are multiple redundant safety measures. So if something fails, there is a backup safety measure in place.

You have the outer building, the shells surrounding the reactor, the casing around the reactor. If there is a meltdown, it can be contained within that, with no damaging radioactive materials spilling into the atmosphere. The risk is that if all of that fails and then it releases into the ground, that's when you get these potentially very, very dangerous consequences.

They have conceded that throughout this crisis, there has been some radioactive material releasing in the form of steam. We've been talking about this cesium. One of these nuclear reactive materials that has been detected in the atmosphere. That, again, a potential indicator of at least a melting down of the casings surrounding the reactor.

So a lot of terms, a lot of confusion, but this word "meltdown," now certainly being used much more freely.

Don?

LEMON: All right, Stan Grant in Tokyo. Thank you, Stan.

VAUSE: OK, let's go to Gary Tuchman. He's joining us on the phone. He's driving from west to east, from Shonai to Matsushima.

Gary, you check in with us before you talked about panic buying on the way. What else are you seeing?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, right now, John, we're hearten to tell you that as we drive through the center of this country, in the northern part of this country, and this is a place where tourists do not come, and where frankly reporters haven't been just yet, we were very anxious to see if 40 miles away from the coast if there was damage from this earthquake. We have not seen it yet. So that's the good news.

The bad news, though, so far is that there is, continues to be a lot of panic buying, things are closed down, and the people who live here. There's still a large population of northern Japan, do not have gas stations where they can go to get gas, except in one gas station that we've seen in the last hour, that we've been driving with more than 100 cars in line.

We're actually driving to the east coast of this town Minami Sanriku. And we mentioned the name of that town. You guys have talked about it before. Japanese media reported that thousands of people are missing from that town. That is very important to stress. That doesn't mean thousands of people perish. As a matter of fact, there's no way to account for people once they leave a town that's damage right now. There may be very few people who died in that town, but we do want to check it out firsthand and see what the situation is.

The driving is very slow right now, getting to the eastern part of this country, the part that was affected most by the earthquake and the tsunami.

John?

VAUSE: OK, Gary, thanks so much. We'll check in with you a little bit later on. Appreciate it.

LEMON: All right. And, you know, doctors are gearing up right now to head in to Tokyo, to head north.

VAUSE: That's right. We'll talk with the general director after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: And welcome back.

Broken roads, few supplies, and desperate people. These are daily challenges for doctors without borders.

LEMON: Absolutely. And members of the group in Japan are now doing what they can in this catastrophe.

Joining us now is a general director in Japan. His name is Eric Quannes.

What are you seeing now?

ERIC QUANNES, GENERAL DIRECTOR: Well, our team reached Sendai yesterday in the afternoon and they've been dispatched in different places, trying to liaise with the medical force there. They are now working in the medical center in Sendai, where there is coordination for providing medical aid.

And what they're seeing is what the news and the different networks are reporting, that there is a lot of injured people even though some of them couldn't reach the medical facilities that were set up in the different places, in the three prefectures touched by the earthquake and the different tsunamis, so lots of needs.

But the first feed back we got from them is that at this stage the medical needs are pretty covered. I emphasize, at this stage. It may change very quickly in the coming hours and days. But the urgent needs now are for non-food items like blankets, water, and food. So we are looking at possibility to help and provide these kind of items very rapidly now.

VAUSE: Mr. Quannes, we know that people can survive an earthquake for days, maybe even weeks at best, but if you include a tsunami like what's happened here, then that window of opportunity of survival narrows quite considerably, doesn't it?

QUANNES: Absolutely. In each big catastrophe of this type, we perfectly know that the first hours, the first days are really crucial to try to reach the necessary patients and to try to get them the necessary help. But for the moment, what we are seeing is not very clear. There is still a lot of people that we cannot get access to, and we're trying to reach them. Our teams will try to assess not inside of Sendai, Iwate prefecture in the future, in the very next hours and days, and then we'll be in a position to speak a little bit more.

LEMON: Doctor, can you compare this to any other catastrophe that you've handled, especially with the threat of radiation on top of it.

How do you prepare for that?

QUANNES: Well, the radiation thing, we have procedures in Doctors Without Borders to deal with that. We have special kits. Unfortunately, we didn't have any in Japan, but they're on their way.

We also have iodine tablets for covering our staff and necessary population and patients. But it's true that in addition of several earthquakes with pretty strong aftershocks, we just had one an hour ago, I saw again in Tokyo, plus the tsunamis, plus the potential radiation is putting the nerves of the people a bit at stake.

So we are looking also at possibilities to have psychologists to take care of the people, the population first, who require the most urgent needs as well as our teams.

LEMON: Doctor, how soon before the suits in and you get the iodine tablets there, that's the quick question I have?

QUANNES: Well, probably in the next 24 hours.

LEMON: OK.

VAUSE: And just very quickly, we understand the main hospital in Sendai is still standing? That it's still intact and still operational. How crucial is that?

QUANNES: Absolutely. Absolutely. The first information we have is that the referral system between the different medical facilities are still on. Obviously, the different relief forces are joining forces to organize the different transfers and are working pretty well together. So that's working. There is also a possibility of evacuating people if ever capacities are full to Tokyo. So all that is being discussed and organized at the moment. For the moment, again, most urgent need is non-food items plus water and food.

LEMON: All right, Dr. Quannes with Doctors Without Borders, we appreciate it. Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, it's been five hours now since we got first word from a Japanese official that a nuclear meltdown may -- may be under way.

LEMON: So what does that mean? Who's in danger? All of that after a quick break. Stay with us.

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LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. Glenn Sjoden is a nuclear engineering professor at Georgia Tech right here in Atlanta.

VAUSE: And he is right here with us in the studio right now.

And, Glenn, there's a lot of concern now about this meltdown, possible meltdown which is under way. What's your take on all the information that we've got so far?

GLENN SJODEN, NUCLEAR ENGINEER PROFESSOR, GEORGIA TECH: Based on all my information, all the information I've seen is that there is really not a massive meltdown occurring. There is a possibility that a small number of fuel rods possibly have breached a bit and the cesium is coming from radiocesium, which is a fission product, and there's a normal amount of radiocesium in the plant normally anyway.

And if you're venting coolant and relieving pressure, it's possible that a small amount of that is getting out and being measured at the site boundary. At these plants, these plants are engineered like no other facility in the world. Massive engineering goes into these. They are over-engineered to account for just about every capacity situation that one might encounter.

So what's going on here is that if you have a small amount of this effluent that contains a small amount of cesium, you're going to measure elevated cesium possibly at the site boundary. Now, from the reports I saw, they were measuring around -- somewhere around 10 millirem at the site boundary. To put this in perspective --

LEMON: But what does that mean, 10 millirem?

SJODEN: I'll give you a perspective on this. If you go to the hospital and get a CT scan, the amount of radiation you're going to get from a CT scan, one of you may have had a CT scan at one time, you're talking 100 times more radiation in that CT scan than what you're going to get standing for over an hour at the site boundary.

LEMON: Is that the same thing as a spec CT, the same scan?

SJODEN: That's a little different, but the amount of radiation is quite a bit more than what you're going to encounter standing -- you'd have to stand for a very long time at the site boundary to even get close to one CT scan.

LEMON: OK. All right, that's a spec CT scan on my foot, so I was just wondering. And I'm sure many people have had similar things.

VAUSE: So bottom line it for us. What's the danger here to the facility, to the people who live around it?

SJODEN: The evacuation that's occurred has been done just as a precautionary measure. It's possibly that if they did uncover, as earlier report showed, uncovered part of the core, that you would have some degradation of the fuel and cladding, and possibly a small breach, called a Leaker in one or two of the fuel elements. A very small amount of radioactive material would be then possibly available for ejection from the core.

LEMON: Enough to worry about?

SJODEN: No, no. We're talking levels so low that, you know, it's like I said, at the site boundary they're measuring very low amounts. So at this point, I would say there is no massive melting going on. There is no cause for concern. As long as they're going to keep the core covered, which they've done, they've done a good job. And they've put sea water in there and that's not a great thing to put in the reactor.

VAUSE: The sea water, the fact that they're now using sea water is an indication that they're going to trash this reactor, that it stays --

(CROSSTALK)

SJODEN: It's never a good idea to put anything with that many organics and other things in.

VAUSE: This is a 40-year-old reactor. They've taken the decision that this is it.

SJODEN: Well, in all nuclear engineers and engineering applications, we work hard to make sure that we always protect the public as the number one issue. So safety of the public is a number one issue. That's why they've done the evacuations. That's why they've done all this.

It's all really just as a precaution because there's really, and from what I've seen, not that much danger. The sea water is regrettable that they're going to have to do a lot of cleanup. It's going to cost the power company a lot of money to regenerate that plant should they want to do that but at no time is anyone in my opinion in any mortal or grave danger and these wild predictions of massive radiation release and problems, they are handling it. They're keeping the core covered.

I would comment that modern reactors, the newest designs, particularly those from all the vendors are walk away safe. They are basically setting up a convection loop where one doesn't have to do auxiliary cooling. They actually self-set up an auxiliary cooling loop on their own.

LEMON: I think that you may be answering my next question with a very short time left.

Is it a fair comparison to Chernobyl?

SJODEN: No, not at all.

LEMON: All right.

SJODEN: Chernobyl had no containment. The reason that everything is being contained in the containment is that it's doing its job. The system is engineered to do this. All these contingencies are accounted for.

VAUSE: OK.

LEMON: Professor.

VAUSE: Professor, we appreciate it.

LEMON: Thank you.

VAUSE: Thanks for clearing it up.

SJODEN: Thank you very much.

LEMON: Appreciate it. Thank you.

SJODEN: All right.

VAUSE: Well, it is just a few minutes before 1:00 p.m. Sunday in Japan.

LEMON: Yes. An information from our reporters and sources continue to flow into CNN, and we'll bring you the very latest when our special coverage continues right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: The eyes of the world are on Japan and the devastation there.

VAUSE: And the dangers from the earthquake and the tsunami are far from over. Japan's official death toll stands at 763, but that number will only climb. The official number of missing is 639. The one coastal town reports half its population, about 9500 people, are unaccounted for. More than 1500 people have been injured.

LEMON: Crews are searching frantically for survivors in the rubble and flood waters. At least 3,000 people have been rescued so far. Some of the hardest hit areas haven't even been reached yet, John.

VAUSE: And radiation is added to the long list of fears for the Japanese people. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant was damaged in the disaster and the country's chief cabinet secretary says a meltdown may have happened at least one reactor there. Now there is concern that another meltdown may be happening at a second reactor.

LEMON: It is the same plant where an explosion very close to a reactor caused panic several hours earlier. The estimated 80,000 people who live within 10 kilometers or six miles of that plant have already been evacuated. Another 180,000 people live within 20 kilometers of the plant. They are fleeing the area today.

VAUSE: Right now there are 2.5 million households without power. That's down from a peak of 6 million. Supplies are running low in many areas. Long lines of people are waiting in stores and gas stations.

LEMON: And 49 countries are offering relief so far including the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, China, Spain, Germany, and France. The first wave of aid from the U.S. has arrived with food and equipment. More equipment, staffers, and search and rescue crews from Virginia and California are expected to arrive on Sunday.

VAUSE: So stay with CNN for the most comprehensive coverage of the Japan disaster. We have several reporters in the region who are on this story non-stop. Many others can provide information as well as analysis.

I'm John Vause from CNN International.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

I will see you back here tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. Eastern for complete coverage on the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

And for the viewers in United States, Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" will pick it up from here.

VAUSE: For viewers everywhere else, Rosemary Church will join you after the break.

LEMON: Good night.

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