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Nuke Meltdown May Have Occurred; Rolling Blackouts in Japan; Bahrain Protests Turn Violent; New Jersey Flood Evacuees Long for Home; One Teen Shot to Death, Four Wounded; Iodine Tables for Survivors; Searchers Go Door-to-Door; Missing and Displaced in Japan; Coastal Japanese Town in Ruins; U.S. Rescue Teams Arrive in Japan; Confirmed Death Toll Nears 1,600

Aired March 13, 2011 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A look at our top stories right now. Japanese officials saying it's possible a minor meltdown was already happening at a nuclear plant in northeast Japan.

Monitors detected what may have been the melting of a fuel rod of a plant, but they say there's no sign of dangerous radiation levels in the area. And in just a few minutes we'll talk with an expert on nuclear plant.

And in the wake of last week's earthquake and tsunami 1.3 million Japanese households are still without power today. Japan's prime minister says that to prevent a massive power outage, the Japanese people will have to endure rolling blackouts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAOTO KAN, JAPAN PRIME MINISTER (through translation): We could fall into power outage in a wide area and sudden power failure could devastate the lives of people as well as to the industrial activities and this is something that we must avoid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In Bahrain, more violent anti-government protests. Police fired tear gas at one of several demonstrations in the kingdom's capital.

In another protest, several people were hurt at Bahrain University when supporters of the royal family faced off with student protesters. Bahrain's government denies that any unjustified force was used against the protesters.

And back in this country, the National Transportation Safety Board today the scene of a deadly bus crash in New York. The tour bus was on its way back from a casino trip in Connecticut when it lost control yesterday and slammed into a thick pole. The pole sliced the bus nearly in half killing 14 people.

And no let up yet in flooding problems in northern New Jersey. Days of heavy rains have soaked the state. About 2,000 homes have been evacuated and storm weary evacuees in temporary shelters say they want to go home. But power remains out in most of the flooded areas and roads are still not safe. Police are searching for a suspect who opened fire on a teen party at a New Orleans restaurant. An 18-year-old died at the scene, four other teens were wounded. The motive for the shooting is still unclear.

Back to our coverage of Japan now. Two nuclear plants have released radiation beyond normal levels since the earthquake and tsunami hit. And at least 160 people are being tested for radiation exposure.

And the Japanese government is preparing to distribute iodine tablets to its residents. We asked Dr. Bill Lloyd about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BILL LLOYD, SURGEON: It's the dust that you can touch or that you can eat or that you can drink that's going to allow that radioactive iodine to get inside your body and put that thyroid at risk.

Taking the potassium iodide before the exposure or as soon thereafter, all right, will protect that thyroid from getting cancer.

WHITFIELD: OK, so you can take it even after exposure. What would be the window of opportunity?

LLOYD: You only have to take it once and it will work for 24 hours. The important point about the 24 hours is radioactive contamination dissipates relatively quickly. So the threat passes very quickly and as long as you take - again, within 24 hours, you're going to get the benefit of radioactive iodine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks to Dr. Bill Lloyd. Now to James Walsh, a CNN contributor and international security expert. Good to see you again, Jim.

OK, so there was that crucial 24-hour window for any of those 160 plus that may have exposed, but we're way passed the 24-hour mark. So if you have not gotten that iodine pill, how concerned are you that there are a lot of people walking around that destruction zone that are not being treated?

JAMES WALSH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I don't think this is going to be a big issue now because a couple of things. One, the event that some vapor that was - not very radioactive and what they found is just trace elements of a radioactive iodine and cesium to air samples.

The concern here is that if you had a major breach of the reactor and the containment vessel then you would get a high volume of iodine and cesium dispersed into the atmosphere covering - going into the ground water covering plants, vegetation and homes and then that's when they would pick it up.

So I think this is primarily a precautionary measure rather than trying to treat something after the fact. I think there's been very little exposure - you know, just because people test for radioactivity doesn't meant that suddenly they're going to get cancer.

We are exposed to radioactivity every day of the year and so a lot of it has to do with the type of radiation you're exposed to, how much you're exposed to and over what period of time.

WHITFIELD: So is your feeling that the dust that may have traveled from that plume in this file tape that we keep seeing of that explosion that took place Saturday morning. Are you saying that there's not likely to be a continued leak coming from that facility?

WALSH: That's right, Fredricka. So most of what you saw from that plume was not radioactive material from inside the plant, but rather, you know, you would see if you saw any conventional explosion, the dust of the concrete and the metal being blown up.

That's what most of that was to the extent that there's radioactivity that's been dispersed it's because it has leaked out from the plant itself. You get some normal leakage anyway and because some of the fuel elements that probably started to melt.

That partial meltdown we've been talking about all afternoon, but that's largely separate from what we saw visually as we're looking at it now on screen. That's likely separate from the issue of radioactivity in the area right now.

WHITFIELD: Why do you think there had been so many conflicting reports coming the government or coming from the utility, engineers and officials there within Japan about how serious or severe any leak or melting of fuel rods, et cetera, has taken place.

WALSH: Yes, I think there are a couple of reasons for this. One is - not everyone has the same information. You know, the government will have one set of information. The utility may have another.

Moreover, you have different parts of the government, right? Some parts of the government are in charge of safety and their mind is focused on safety or environment concerns. Other parts of the government are more about regulating the nuclear industry and that's not where their primary concern is.

It's also a fast moving event. I mean, you know, they've suffered a tsunami. They've suffered an earthquake. There's dislocation and cell phones are out. So there's a whole communications problem. I also think on top of all those other factors, Fredricka, there is a tendency for top level government officials to fear that people are going to panic.

I think by the way that's misplaced the evidence shows that people do not panic under these circumstances, but there's a fear about saying things that might be scary and causing people to panic.

So often, people downplay issues, you know, try to not worry the public when I think really what they ought to do is be as forthcoming as possible, to maintain credibility. They need that credibility as we go forward to deal with the issues coming down the road. WHITFIELD: So there are about a half dozen other reactors in that general facility. How concerned about them are you as a result of this 8.9 tremor or earthquake with tremors that reached as far as 200 miles?

WALSH: Yes, well, I am concerned. I'm concerned because we started out with the unit one and it became unit two and then there was a report it was later retracted from the international atomic energy agency that two plants at a separate, but nearby facility had lost their cooling system and that is scary because, again this is all about cooling.

This is all about keeping the plants cool and so the pressure doesn't build up and they don't burn off the water and expose the fuel rod. I was concerned about that. Now there is a third plant area that has -- is supporting somewhat increased radioactivity level.

Again, I think this stuff in principle should be manageable but every day seems to bring a new story and you worry about whether -- these guys working 24/7, you know, under emergency circumstances in a tsunami, in an earthquake, you wonder about how much that organization can take when it is one new thing after another.

Finally, Frederica, as if that wasn't enough, all we have done is focus on the reactors. There are other facilities. There's the whole issue of the waste, the deadly waste that the flames produce and storage of that waste and the other reactors.

WHITFIELD: A lot to consider.

WALSH: A lot.

WHITFIELD: Well, maybe there will be some reinforcements that come in from other portions of the country, more southern regions that were untouched by that expertise or perhaps even that's where the international assistance comes in another way to help out with those nuclear reactors, and others a facilities.

Jim Walsh, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for being with me all day today, in fact.

WALSH: Thank you, Frederica, my pleasure.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

All right, meantime, more on all that transpired from that tsunami and earthquake. A 60-year-old Japanese man actually survived the tsunami by clinging to it a piece of rooftop. He was a drift at sea for two days.

There's a picture of him right there and the man and his wife fled their house during the earthquake. They had returned to get some belongings when in an instant that tsunami hit.

His wife unfortunately was swept away. A Japanese maritime defense vessel rescued the man after they spotted his homemade red flag. Hope of finding other survivors that hope is dwindling as rescue missions turn into recovery missions now. The police chief in Miyagi Prefecture predicts that the death toll there alone will reach the tens of thousands and that's where we find CNN's Anna Coren.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have just arrived on the outskirts Ishinomaki, which is about an hour north of Sendai. We teamed up with the Japanese military and they are going through this neighbor today see if they can find any survivors.

(voice-over): But it quickly became apparent this wasn't a search and rescue operation. They were here to recover bodies. This neighborhood just 500 meters from the coast caught the full force of the devastating tsunami.

Every single home was damaged by the 10-meter wall of water, most beyond repair. This man scrambled on top of his house, holding onto the roof for dear life.

(on camera): You are very lucky to be alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm lucky, very lucky.

COREN (voice-over): There was less than 30 minutes between the quake hitting and the monster wave devouring the coast.

(on camera): This is your house?

(voice-over): This man managed to drive out just in time, but his says his neighbors weren't so lucky. (on camera): This is a scene of complete and utter devastation, the power of the tsunami, it just speaks for itself. The wall of water that roared through here within seconds collected everything in its path.

And from the rescue workers that we have spoken to, the bodies that they are retrieving are those of the elderly people who could not get out in time.

Now, for the survivors who are returning to see what is left of their home, when you stand here and witness the devastation, you have to wonder where these people start to rebuild their lives. Anna Coren, CNN, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Next, what you can do to help displaced children in Japan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Dozens of countries are offering to help Japan as it recovers from the big earthquake and tsunami. Take a look at this map. The countries in gold have either already sent crews or supplies or announced as they will. Even the poor Afghan city of Kandahar announced it is donating $50,000 to what it called its brothers and sisters of Japan.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS "Ronald Reagan" is now in Japan. It has already started delivering aid in the coastal regions as it supports the relief operation.

And one of the charities that is helping quake victims to save the children, well, it is now mobilizing in the disaster zone. The group's emergency response spokesperson, Ian Woolverton, joins me now by phone from Tokyo.

Ian, how do you move forward at this point? Where do you know your help is needed?

IAN WOOLVERTON, SPOKESPERSON, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Good afternoon to you. Well, look, obviously, it is a very difficult situation to operate in here in Japan. Yesterday, I was in the city of Asahi, which is about 3 hours' drive east of Tokyo.

Our teams there were doing an assessment to the needs, most vulnerable children and their families. And of course, there were many vulnerable children and families in that city. We found many people sheltering in primary schools, some 400 people sheltering in 17 classrooms because their houses have been partially destroyed or destroyed by the tsunami.

They have gone back. Some have gone back their homes to, sweeping clean, back into their homes and found that the water supply had been disrupted so they had to go back to the primary school to seek shelter there.

So obviously that just one city, our teams are going to push forward today to Sendai to assess needs there, but needs are enormous all on the east side of Japan.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder in Sendai in particular if you're preparing yourself to find a lot of displaced children. Children who can't find the rest of their family members, in that case, what do you do?

WOOLVERTON: Well, of course, that's always a big concern for us. We are extremely anxious for the safety and well-being of children. Children, of course, are the most vulnerable following a natural disaster like a tsunami and earthquake.

So what we will be doing is trying to ensure that family links are reunited. It's incredibly important children affected by disaster have the support of their families and have what's -- it's going to be sure that they actually return to a normal environment as possible given the circumstances.

One of the way in which we do that is we try to set up what we call child-friendly space, evacuation and recovery centers. These are spaces where children can play with other children of similar age, whilst their parents register for disaster relief assistance.

It is not just about allowing children to have a safe place to play. Our experience in other disasters all across the world tells us that if children have a safe place in which to play, stable environments, we can ward off the potential for longer term psychological consequences.

WHITFIELD: If you were to receive donations or I'm sure a lot of people are listening to you and thinking I want to help. What sort of things might you need to help facilitate getting more of these child- friendly facilities up and running or offering any kind of other aid that you are giving families?

WOOLVERTON: Well, the best way that anyone listening to this can help is to make the donation to Save the Children's Fund. They can do that by texting Japan to 20222 and that will make as $10 donation to Save the Children. That is the best way that people can help us right now is to donate funds to reach as many vulnerable children as possible in Japan.

WHITFIELD: Ian Woolverton with Save the Children. Thanks so much for your time and all the best in your continued efforts there.

We will have more on the intensifying search efforts for survivors after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Rescue teams are searching for survivors in Sendai, Japan. That's the city closest to the quake's epee center and the place where the tsunami hit hard. CNN's Martin Savidge is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How do you begin to search what looks like the end of the world? In the seaside city of Sendai, emergency teams carefully pick their way through the devastation, dwarfed by the size of the tsunami's impact.

Often, the teams are trailed by anxious civilians, looking for any signs of missing loved ones. I wanted to ask this man who he was looking for, but I never got the chance.

(on camera): So, we were starting to follow what appears to be a search crew, but now the problem is apparently there's been another tsunami warning, so the crew and everyone else here is being told to get away, which we are doing.

(voice-over): It is hard to tell how real the threat may be. Nerves in Sendai are very much still on edge. Officials shout their warnings, load up and head for higher ground. We go in the opposite direction, heading toward the coast and the closer we get, the more unreal the scene.

The tidal surge rushed inland in some places six miles. Getting around is difficult, many roads here are impassible. Add together apocalyptic scenes, huge fires continue to burn unchecked. Thick, black smoke and flames boil from a refinery. As we video the scene, we notice something else.

(on camera): Up until now, we have heard the sirens, we have heard the announcements, another tsunami coming, but nobody really seemed to be that anxious. All of a sudden, we noticed the water here, it's racing out. We're leaving.

(voice-over): Fortunately, the threat never materializes, which is a good thing, because Sendai has already seen more than its share of hell and high water.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Martin Savidge reporting. CNN.com put together an astonishing way to see the true damage this quake and tsunami did to the coastline, kind of before and after like you have never seen before. Reggie Aqui is here to show us.

REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what you do is you go to our main webpage and see it is dominating our coverage right now, what is happening in Japan. You go to this section here under one of these links. You will get to a map of Japan.

And when you get to the map, you will see the various cities impacted where we have to our correspondents and where our I-Reporters have been submitting their reports.

So let's go to Fukushima. If you click there, you'll see a video pops up obviously talking about the nuclear crisis that's looming there. You'll see a video report that is from our Stan Grant.

Now, and elsewhere on the site, after you're done looking at that, I want to show you what you were talking about, a before and after scene of Fukushima. Now, of course, we're talking about this power plant that has been the focus of our attention and much of the world's attention over the weekend.

What I'm going to do is slide this before picture halfway through. So you will see to the left, the before the tsunami picture, to the right, what happened after tsunami. Now, of course, this plant is pretty symmetrical so there should be buildings right here, they are now gone after that earthquake and after the tsunami so just one of the stunning images that we are getting in.

Let's go to another one here. This is from an area called Ishinomaki. We have one of our reporters there, Anna Coren, and she is saying as she is going around that she sees troops going door to door looking for survivors, not finding many.

You can see why, when I slide this again before and I'll take it halfway through. You can see all the houses here untouched until the earthquake and tsunami flooded under water, many of the homes we can no longer even see.

I'll push it all the way in so you can see the full scope of the damage in our after picture. When you get even closer to the photos on the ground, again, this is that same town I just showed you the before and after, Ishinomaki.

You can see as they try to evacuate people out, some of the government help in boats and I'm going to leave with this photo because I just can't get this out of my mind. I think the most striking image that we have seen at least in still images so far.

Also again in Ishinomaki, one of these towns hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami, government troops in the background, This woman left to wonder what is going to happen to her life from now on. Find this all out by going to cnn.com. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Reggie.

Violence in Bahrain's capital, protesters face tear gas as they march for democracy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Japanese official stays it's possible a minor meltdown has already happened at a nuclear plant in northeast Japan. Monitors detected what may have been the melting of a fuel rod at the plant, but there is no sign of dangerous radiation levels in the area.

On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" today, Candy Crowley asked Japan's ambassador to the United States about efforts to cool the reactors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ICHIRO FUJISAKI, JAPANESE AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: It is better to put in clear water, but we do not have enough supply of clear water there, so we are putting in sea water.

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": So it is not necessarily a sign that things are dire, it is a sign that you don't have the kind of water you'd like to use?

FUJISAKI: We do not -- if there's clear water, it would be better for reactor itself, but in order to cool down the sea water, it would have the same effect as clear water. The effect we are trying to get is trying to get the reactor to cool down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Several U.S. rescue and assistance teams arrived in Japan today. More than 3,000 people have been rescued since the earthquake and tsunami struck. But many more are still missing. Japan's prime minister says this is his country's worst crisis since World War II.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAOTA KAN, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translation): Please, I ask each one of you. Please have such determination to deepen your bond with your family members, neighbors, the people in your community to overcome this crisis. So that Japan can be better a place. We can build together. This is the message I'd like to emphasize to the Japanese people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Disaster assistance is pouring into Japan. The USS Ronald Reagan arrived in Japan today and started delivery aide. Ten U.S. Navy ships are bound for Japan, carrying humanitarian aid and emergency crews. Dozens of other countries and the European Union have also offered aid to Japan.

In some of other top stories, security forces in Yemen fired guns and tear gas at protesters outside Sana'a University today. At least 10 people were wounded, 100 others sickened by the tear gas. Protesters are angry over high unemployment and what they see as government corruption and a lack of political freedom.

In Bahrain, more violent anti-government protests there. Police fired tear gas at one of several demonstrations in the kingdom's capital. In another protest, several people were hurt at Bahrain University when supporters of the royal family faced off with student protesters. Bahrain's government denies any unjustified force was used against the protesters.

And from eastern Libya now, new video of a town once held by rebel forces. What's left of it is now back under government control. Today, Libyan rebels retreated from the town of Brega. They are said to be heading for a rebel stronghold that's preparing for a possible attack by Gadhafi forces.

Back in the U.S., police are searching for a suspect who opened fire on a teen party at a New Orleans restaurant. An 18-year-old died at the scene. Four other teens were wounded. The motive for the shooting is still unclear.

A homecoming this weekend in Wisconsin for 14 Democratic senators who fled the state to block a vote on a bill cutting public workers' union rights. The Republican-controlled Senate passed the controversial bill last week without the Democrats by taking out its spending provisions. The Democrats were greeted by cheering crowds at the state capitol and vowed to fight on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DAVE HENSON (D), WISCONSIN: People think that this was a picnic for us, they're wrong. But I'll tell you something, we did it for the right reasons and the fight will continue. It does not end with that vote.

SEN. SPENCER COGGS (D), WISCONSIN: We gave them hope. They gave us inspiration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Republicans say the bill makes cuts needed to balance the budget.

We are still getting i-Reports showing what it was like when the earthquake hit Japan. This one shows a swimming pool overflowing at a U.S. Navy base. Our i-Reporter, a maintenance man at the base, says they were trying to clean up the mess from this earthquake when an aftershock hit.

And nearly 1,600 people are now confirmed dead in Japan, as rescue crews and reporters reach the hardest-hit areas, expect that number to grow. One fishing village near the epicenter was particularly hard hit. Here's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Minamisanriku, Japan about three miles from the Pacific Ocean. Never in my career of covering natural disasters have I seen a town so utterly pulverized. Just completely mowed down, but this is not from the earthquake.

This is from the tsunami and we know that, because this is where the water stopped on its way from the ocean. If you go just a half a mile away from here, a half a mile to the west, there's absolutely no damage whatsoever in the nearby neighborhoods. But here, there's nothing left. We see cars, we see trucks, we see motor homes, trees, personal belongings of people all over the place and they come from all over this town of 20,000 people.

Now there are still thousands of people unaccounted for. That doesn't mean they're all dead. It doesn't mean they're all hurt. It's hard to keep track of people. But the fact is, there are still many bodies under this rubble. Throughout the day today and yesterday, ambulances were coming in and out. They heard people screaming. They took them out.

Right now, we hear no more voices. We're being told by rescue emergency officials, they don't believe there's anyone still alive in the rubble. But as we said, there are still people who perished in this earthquake and the tsunami. I think what's really unusual about the situation, is we drove across the country from the west coast of Japan to here on the east coast. And we saw virtually no damage whatsoever until we got to this spot three miles away from the Pacific Ocean.

We're still feeling aftershocks here. That caused a lot of anxiety in Japan as it did in Haiti last year after the January 12th earthquake there. The aftershocks continue for a long time. Many people to this day refuse to go do their homes in Haiti, scared that the homes will collapse because of the aftershocks and that's the situation in Japan, a lot of anxiety after the 8.9 earthquake and the tsunami which has killed so many people. This is Gary Tuchman in the earthquake zone, in Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Anderson Cooper reports live from Japan along with Sanjay Gupta and Soledad O'Brien in a special "Anderson Cooper: 360" beginning tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Time to go cross country for a look at some of the stories our affiliates are covering.

Government records show a tour bus company involved in a deadly crash has been involved in at least two other accidents with injuries in the last two years. The bus overturned yesterday in the Bronx, killing 14 people. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause.

In Oklahoma, firefighters are still trying to contain several big wildfires east of Oklahoma City. The flames have destroyed at least 40 homes.

And then in New Jersey, flood warnings and watches are in place along several rivers and streams. The Passaic River is at major flood stage, but has started to recede. The flooding meant that a whole lot of people left their homes, in the hundreds, actually, that evacuation impacted so many people. Jacqui Jeras in the Weather Center. And it's the beginning of a workweek and some folks are displaced as a result. This is going to be a very difficult start.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: The Japanese tsunami and earthquake could affect the cost of availability of consumer electronics. Earlier, I talked with tech guru Marc Saltzman about what we can expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC SALTZMAN, TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Some of the biggest tech companies are based in Japan. We're talking Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Kyosira, Fujitsu, Nintendo, Sanyo. The list goes on and on.

So what's likely to happen is there are going to be some major shipment delays, as predicted by a few market research firms, as well as inflatable costs in the short term. Keep in mind, it's not just Japanese companies here that are being affected.

Even American tech companies like Power Houses like Apple, or Sandisk, they order their parts often from Japan. Forty percent of all flash memory comes from Japan. So this is likely to have a domino effect around the world.

WHITFIELD: So that means there are likely to be some shipping delays as well?

SALTZMAN: Yes, that's correct. So there's going to be some shipping delays. We've got some major launches around this time of year as well. The iPad II just debuted in the U.S. on Friday as well as around the world on the 25th of March.

We've got two weeks today, the Nintendo 3DS, the portable gaming system about to make its debut, the first gaming system with a 3D display that doesn't require glasses. You know, presumably, the first batch, the first shipment of these units has been sent around the world already, getting ready for retail. But even Toshiba says in a company statement and I quote, "in addition to delivery interruptions that may arise from factory damage, shipments of product may be affected by disruptions in road, rail, sea and air transportation within and from Japan." So they're bracing for these delays.

WHITFIELD: And so I imagine stock prices of a lot of these tech companies will be impacted as well?

SALTZMAN: Yes, they already have. It hasn't been catastrophic, but we've already seen dips on Friday. Sony is down 2.4 percent. Kyosira slid 3 percent and Panasonic dropped 1.77 percent.

But keep in mind, and unfortunately, the worst, you know, hopefully the worst is behind them in Japan because the company, the country is still bracing for aftershocks. You know, as big as 7-magnitude aftershock as well as trying to contain a nuclear meltdown.

So let's hope and pray that the worst is behind them and that it's upwards and onwards, but it's clear that investors are nervous, as reflected in the stock prices.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, the spokesman for the U.S. State Department is out of a job. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Time for CNN Equals Politics, we're keeping an eye on all the latest headlines at the CNNPolitics.com desk. And here's what's crossing right now. P.J. Crowley has resigned as spokesman for the U.S. State Department. Sources say he was pressured to step down by the White House after suggesting the Obama administration is mistreating Bradley Manning. Manning is being held in solitary confinement, suspected of leaking government cables to the whistle- blowing website WikiLeaks.

And U.S. Congress must take action this week to prevent the federal government from shutting down on Friday. That's when funding runs out. Republicans and Democrats are expected to pass another short- term money extension to avoid a shutdown, while negotiations on the final budget bill continue.

A historical gaffe from a potential presidential hopeful. During a trip to New Hampshire, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann told the crowd, "You're in the state where the shot was heard around the world, Lexington and Concord." The 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord were, in fact, fought in Massachusetts.

And for the latest political news, you know exactly where to go CNNPolitics.com.

So it's been two days since the earthquake and tsunami hit January and rescue crews and reporters are just now getting to some of the worst- hit areas. Here is CNN's Paula Hancocks. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the tsunami alert sounds, everyone sprints to higher ground.

Police abandon their cars. Rescue workers rush people to safety. One man shouts at us, "It's your life, run." Everyone does, including us. Running far higher than any tsunami could ever reach.

Not surprising when you see what the last tsunami did.

This was the town of Minamisanriku, there's little left. House, shops and offices reduced to mangled rubble. The loss of life here thought to be among the worst along the east coast of Japan.

(on camera): At this point, officials have no idea how many people exactly died. In just this one town, there were 18,000 residents here. Some of those residents that did survive the tsunami say that they ran when they heard the warning. But some of their neighbors didn't.

(voice-over): Choushi Takahashi was working as a civil servant in an office near the water. He says the earthquake knocked him off his feet and then came the tsunami warning.

He tells me, "Most people ran away. But some had to leave the elderly or disabled behind on the second floor. I think a lot of those left behind probably died."

This woman says, "I saw the bottom of the sea when the tidal wave withdrew and houses and people were being washed away. I couldn't watch anymore."

This resident tells us there was no time to think about anything. The tsunami just came too quickly.

Local reports say more than 40 people were found alive Sunday morning. And ambulances rushing the injured out of the disaster zone.

Elsewhere, the elderly are carried out to be evacuated by helicopter. This boat was carried more than three kilometers or two miles to the edge of town. The tsunami spared little in its path. Memories of life before the wave litter the sodden ground.

Residents start the seemingly impossible task of clearing up.

This is still a search-and-rescue operation for now. Emergency teams know that window of survival is closing.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Minamisanriku, northeast Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: To find out about the ongoing recovery efforts in Japan and how you can help quake victims, visit our "Impact Your World" page. That's at CNN.com/impact.

As the earthquake struck Japan, i-reporters reached for their cameras. A frightening view from inside the disaster, next.

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WHITFIELD: Several CNN viewers in Japan managed to capture the first horrible moments of the earthquake on their cell phones and their video cameras, and we put a few of those i-Reports together. Take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is the biggest earthquake to date.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have earthquake right now and this is actually moving. Can you see the cracks moving? The crack is just moving. There's water. I don't know if the water lines are broken, but this water was not there a minute ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We will do our best to try to rescue all survivors and people who are isolated especially today because every minute counts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The blast at the Fukushima number one power plant occurred at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The two pictures you're seeing at the moment are of the plant before the blast and after the blast. And in the lower one circled you can see that some of the outer wall has fallen down.

YUKIO EDANO, JAPANESE CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY (through translator): I will repeat again this was not caused by the nuclear reactor, and there was no harmful gas emitted by this explosion, and the radiation level has not changed since the explosion.

RYAN MCDONALD, FUKUSHIMA RESIDENT: The biggest problem right now we have is there's no food anywhere. All the convenience stores are closed, the grocery stores are closed. So everyone is on the road trying to find something open and it's just gridlock everywhere.

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WHITFIELD: Our coverage continues. Anderson Cooper will be reporting live from Japan along with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Soledad O'Brien in a special "Anderson Cooper: 360" beginning tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. I'll see you back here again next weekend. Don Lemon is coming up next with more of the day's headlines.

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