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Nuclear Uncertainty after Latest Blast; Shelters in Japan Struggle to Help; Flattened by Quake and Tsunami; Before and After the Disaster; Japan's Nikkei Plunges 6.2 Percent; Survivor Left with Nothing; Critical Hours in Search for Survivors; Amazing Stories of Survival

Aired March 14, 2011 - 08:59   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to our continuing coverage of the disaster in Japan. I'm Carol Costello, sitting in for Kyra Phillips.

There are some fast moving developments to tell you about. Here is what we know now. The death toll is rising. A few hours ago, Japan's government reported there are now more than 1,800 confirmed deaths. But one news agency is reporting that 2,000 bodies have been bodied in a coastal area.

Some of the biggest concerns this hour involve damaged nuclear plants and the threat of a meltdown. A short time ago we learned that a second reactor has lost its cooling ability after another explosion earlier today.

A 12-mile area has now been evacuated but Japan says the amount of radiation leak is small. But the U.S. Navy is repositioning its ships and planes away from the plant after low-levels of radiation were found on some crew members. They had taken part in a helicopter relief mission.

CNN correspondents and their teams are in place all across Japan, gathering the latest information on this -rapidly developing story. You're going to be hearing from them throughout the day.

A new explosion at an already damaged nuclear plant has Japan and the world on edge this morning. It is the second blast at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in three days. This video was from Saturday's blast.

Part of the plant's critical cooling system is crippled. We now understand the fuel rods were exposed at reactor number two. And that is dangerous. It could mean big problems down the road.

Also according to the "New York Times" the USS Ronald Reagan sailed into a radioactive cloud and at least 17 U.S. Navy helicopter crew members were exposed to low-level radiation and they had to be treated for it.

Right now the USS Ronald Reagan is moving farther out to sea.

CNN's Stan Grant is in Tokyo, about 200 miles away from the plant. Here's what he had to say moments ago about the threat of a nuclear crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've been focusing on the number one and three reactors at the Daiichi plant. Well, the today the coolant in number two was also knocked out. That exposed the fuel rod there. That what really gets into dangerous territory if the water level drops too quickly.

What they did to do is to pump water into there. And as they did with reactors one and three, they pumped seawater into reactor two. And here is where it really gets strange. Because from where I stand, it's almost unbelievable. But apparently the fuel in the pump ran low.

Now according to Japanese media this seems to have been operational error. At that point the water level really dropped and exposed the reactor, exposed the reactor above the water line. It's what generates so much hear.

Now we've learned since then that that problem has been rectified. The seawater is now pumping in there and they stabilized the situation. But of course it's now created a lot more pressure and a lot more steam and they're going to have to vent that. They're going to have to release that.

And when they released that steam, a measure of radiation is also released into the atmosphere. Now the government has been -- has been following that level of radiation and say that it is still not at a level that is harmful to people. But of course, when you hear these stories, when you hear that exposure, possible meltdown, radiation, thinking steam, or the rest of it, it does raise the anxiety level.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, he got that right. Stan Grant reporting from Tokyo.

No matter how you measure the devastation the scope is mind-boggling. Thousands of people dead. Entire coastal communities in northern Japan simply washed away. But there are miracles. Survivors and they are sharing their story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): We went inside the building and there were people who were washed away. And my parents were washed away. I can't get in touch with them. I'm very worried.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Japanese city closes to the epicenter of the quake, Sendai, it was also ground zero for the tsunami that followed. Today many of its people are homeless and they're relying on shelters to provide even the most basic needs.

CNN's Kyung Lah is at one such shelter and she joins us by phone. Good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Good morning, Carol.

It is nighttime here in Japan. It is very cold. And the shelter that you're talking about, I'm actually standing in it. It's an elementary school. There are hundreds of people here. Hundreds of people who are bedding down for the night, basically piled up right next to somebody else, a stranger, and they're all sleeping in these classrooms because their homes are either destroyed or they're damaged or they can't access them.

And we've spoken to a number of these people who don't know really what's happened to their homes or can say they lost everything in the tsunami. All they have are the clothes on their back or some water or tea that's been given to them by the shelter.

So the situation here is that a lot of these folks are just trying to get by day by day. They are also trying to figure out where the missing are. The message board here -- and people are writing messages. "Have you seen my father?" "Here I am." There are all these messages. And it goes down an entire hallway. People trying to reach each other.

Because mobile phone connections are really difficult here. There are very few cells that are reliable where you can reach anyone. And the other issue is, is that they are completely shell-shocked.

When you look at these images of these houses completely destroyed -- remember, people had to run away from these homes as this wall of mud and debris was coming. I spoke to a father and the whole time I was speaking to him he was holding his 3-week-old daughter. He could not put her down. I have been here all day. He has not been able to her down. And he says all he can think about is, I've got to protect her.

COSTELLO: That's just -- it just breaks your heart.

I did notice some people are wearing masks over their noses and mouths. Why are they doing that?

LAH: Two things. One, they are -- they're really trying to make sure that no one gets sick. One of the problems here at this shelter is because you have so many people close together people are simply catching colds. They're worried about people getting the flu.

It is still the flu season. The common cold is being spread around here quite rapidly. So that's one of the major reasons.

The other thing is that culturally the Japanese do wear masks and that's mainly just to, you know, keep germs out of the body. It is a cultural thing and you would see it on any normal day in Tokyo.

COSTELLO: Got you. Kyung Lah, reporting live, thanks so much.

The full scope of the disaster is still hard to grasp three days later. But it's coming more into focus this morning as images of utter devastation pour into our newsroom. More every hour.

The incredible force of the quake, the tsunami, the aftershocks evidenced by just looking at the aftermath.

Soledad O'Brien is live in a town about an hour outside of Sendai.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: I think the thing that never ceases to amaze you is really the power of a natural disaster like a tsunami.

I mean take a look at this. This building here, the white one. That's an apartment building. It's actually standing pretty well. But look at this one here. This is a house that's completely collapsed and remarkably this house actually wasn't here before the tsunami hit. It came out of this big open space back here and actually just floated up with the force of the water. I mean it's amazing.

Most of the people who live here are fishermen and rice farmers, some of them elderly. And now they say with the destruction they really don't know what they're going do. Because as you can see even a house like this inside, even though structurally, a real testament to the Japanese architecture with a mind to earthquake. Structurally it's held up very well. Inside it's a complete and total loss.

So the farmers that we have spoken to say that -- Well, some are assured, they're not really sure at this point what exactly they can do. They said when the earthquake happened it was so severe on the hands and knees because it was shaking so hard, then an alarm went off which was an indication that a tsunami was on the way so they high- tailed it over to an elementary school, went up to the roof. Several hundred people.

And then at that point they basically waited and within 30 minutes the tsunami had come through. And you can see -- and Jung (ph) if you pan out that way -- you can just see the complete and total loss that just goes on and on for about as far as you can see.

What will happen to this community? It's really unclear but certainly for the homes here, most of it is just gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Japan looks very different than it did just a few days ago when the country was plunged into chaos. Devastation that began with that 8.9 magnitude earthquake. One of the strongest ever recorded. But much of the damage has resulted not from the quake itself but from the massive tsunami that followed.

Now we have these amazing satellite images of Japan before and after.

CNN's Rob Marciano was taking a closer look at them this morning.

Show us, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. Yes, this -- you know, we've been seeing these pictures from the ground. They're obviously incredible, incredible to see the power of how the earth moves. And this is now what it looks like from above.

Some of these high resolution satellite imageries from GeoEye. This is what Sendai looked like before the quake and resulting tsunami, this is right around the coastline. So this particular community completely wiped out.

You go a little bit further inland, you know this is a big city, you go further inland and there are areas that are relatively unscathed. But this one, completely, completely demolished. Just a couple of buildings and houses here that remain standing.

All right, the Sendai Airport which is south and east of the city, yes, right along the coastline, maybe a kilometer just offshore. This is what it looked like before the quake and resulting tsunami and this is what it looked like after.

That is all for the most part tsunami damaged, basically a storm surge times a hundred because you have not just a wall of water that's moving, but it's moving in fast and it's moving in with so much mass, much more than any sort of hurricane could possibly bring in.

So that is obviously the bad news there.

Natori, which is south of Sendai, just a little bit. This is a community. There's some farm land and this, as the area gets wiped out, this is the farmland, we've got flooding. All right. There's some low land areas that are going to take some not time to drain even still because of the water that's not supposed to be there. That came in. In some cases miles inland.

This is Ishinomaki. It's north of Sendai. And this community about 150,000 to 200,000 people obviously densely packed in this area. Some industrial buildings as well. Those are pretty much the only things that are -- that remain standing here.

So unbelievable amount of force that this tsunami brought in.

You know, Carol, there's been some measurements by geologists that say that the plates that were interacting the North American and Pacific plate moved 59 feet and the islands of Japan themselves shifted about eight feet. So unbelievable --

COSTELLO: And are some parts of Japan still under water essentially?

MARCIANO: Well, there -- you know, there's -- I'm not sure if that's because that the land actually --

COSTELLO: The shifting. Right.

MARCIANO: The shifting or it's because, you know, these areas were flooded by the tsunami. And because it's such a low land area. It's kind of like New Orleans. You know some areas are below sea level or close to sea level. It's going to take some time for them to drain out.

COSTELLO: It's just awful. Thanks so much, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

COSTELLO: If you want to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, here's how you do it. You go to CNN.com/impact to reach our "Impact World" site. You'll find links to several charitable organizations where you can send or text donations.

In just seven years the world has experienced five earthquakes so large that the combined death toll is nearly half a million. Are these massive quakes becoming more frequent? And if not, then why are we seeing so many in such a short amount of time?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Surviving the earthquake and tsunami is just the beginning for many in Japan. As it split the ground beneath their feet and the waters rushed in, the disaster ripped countless Japanese families apart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): My wife is missing. She was at work near the airport. I know where my children are but my wife has not been found yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Through Translator): I managed to survive but my daughter was washed away. I don't know what to say. I hope my daughter is still alive somewhere.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Seems like we're seeing these horrible massive more quakes more often. In the last seven years the world has suffered five major earthquakes.

In 2004 a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a wave of tsunami that hit 14 countries including Thailand. Nearly 230,000 people were killed.

In January of 2010, a magnitude 7 earthquake rocked Haiti, another 230,000 people died in that quake. One month later an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Chile. Several hundred people were killed. And just last month the 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand killing 153 people.

And now in Japan, an earthquake and an ensuing tsunami that was so big it actually moved the entire country eight feet. The death toll there is just over 1,800 and counting.

In all, nearly half a million people died in these five earthquakes. And as search and rescue efforts continue in Japan, that number will surely get larger.

Dr. Colin Stark is a research professor with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. He joins me from New York. Doctor, welcome.

COLIN STARK, PROFESSOR, LAMONT-DOHERTY EARTH OBSERVATORY: Hi.

COSTELLO: You wrote a piece for cnn.com about the quake, and you wrote that, while these huge earthquakes seem to be becoming more frequent, they actually are not. So, tell us -- tell us your theory.

STARK: Well, it's a combination of perception, of the increasing risk of earthquakes and, partly, coincidence. So, doing coincidence first. We see earthquakes of magnitude 9 maybe once every 10 to 20 years, and it's a bit like waiting for a bus. Sometimes we'll be waiting, we'll be waiting, we'll be waiting and, then, three buses will arrive all at once.

So -- and that's, really, just a statistical accident. So we shouldn't draw any conclusion from this clustering that there's any physical connection between these events.

COSTELLO: Even -- even if the --

STARK: So, there's --

COSTELLO: Even if these earthquakes are so massive?

STARK: Well, yes. To put it into context, think of it as a little pyramid. There are hundreds and hundreds of magnitude 6 events every year. There about 10 to 15 magnitude 7 events every year. Maybe, typically, about one magnitude 8. So, most of these earthquakes don't go reported because most of them take place in the oceans far from any places of civilization, and they're not reported, they're not even felt.

So, these kind of earthquakes happen all the time. It's just, in the last few the years, unluckily, they have struck in areas of high population, and they've been reported, and the consequences have been devastating.

There's also a -- there's been a growing risk of such events over time. So, for example, along the front of the Himalayas, there are many cities which now have millions of people living there.

The last time these cities saw an earthquake of this magnitude, magnitude 8, et cetera, the kind of magnitudes that we've seen recently in the past few years that killed so many people. The last time those cities saw an earthquake of that magnitude was hundreds of years ago, and at the time when those cities -- last one earthquake, they were small towns. And in the intervening time, they've become mega-cities.

COSTELLO: Right.

STARK: And they're time bombs waiting to happen.

COSTELLO: And we're seeing the results and history being said, history being made. Dr. Colin Stark, thank you for joining us. And you can read Colin Stark's entire article at cnn.com. The United States is the top generator of nuclear power in the world. Coming up, we'll look at which of our sites are in higher-risk earthquake areas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We'll get back to our quake coverage in Japan, but there is other news this morning to tell you about. Libyan state TV reports that forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have retaken more towns from opposition forces. Libya's denouncing the Arab League's vote to back a no-fly zone to protect civilians.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will discuss Libya and the no-fly zone option with other G-8 diplomats in Paris today. Clinton is also scheduled to meet with Libyan opposition leaders. After leaving Paris, Clinton will travel to Egypt and Tunisia, where new governments are replacing fallen leaders.

A Pakistani court has dismissed a diplomatic immunity petition by an American accused of killing two Pakistanis. CIA contractor Raymond Davis says he was defending himself in the January shooting. The trial court will make a final decision on Davis's immunity status.

State department spokesman PJ Crowley has resigned. The move follows Crowley's criticism of the Defense Department's handling of the Bradley Manning case. Manling (sic) is -- Manning is the army private who allegedly leaked classified info to WikiLeaks.

And the company involved in a fatal bus crash in New York has been in two other fatal crashes with injuries in the last two years. At least 14 people died Saturday when a Worldwide Travel bus crashed coming back from a casino. Investigators are looking for casino video to check on the driver's activities before the accident.

Wildfires that swept across central Oklahoma are now contained. Forty homes have been destroyed. There were no reported deaths, but it's not known how many people suffered injuries.

The threat of a full nuclear meltdown in Japan is prompting concerns about nuclear plant safety here in the United States. At least two lawmakers are calling for a moratorium. We'll talk with a nuclear industry leader next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is half past the hour and time for the latest headlines coming out of Japan's disaster zone. This morning, fears of a possible nuclear meltdown are growing. A third cooling system has failed at a damaged nuclear plant. Officials think it was caused by this morning's explosion, the second in three days. As of now, there is no significant leak of radiation.

Japan's government confirms more than 1800 people have died, but the teath (sic) toll -- the death toll, rather, is certain to climb. On Japanese news agency reports some 2,000 bodies found in a coastal community devastated by the tsunami.

Japan's prime minister says 15,000 people have been rescued. Here is one of the most dramatic stories. A man is found clinging to the wreckage of his house several miles off the coast of Japan. That's his roof he's standing on. He spent two days adrift amid a field of debris that had been washed out to sea.

As these troubling alerts about Japan's nuclear sites flash across the screen, many of us can't help but wonder, could it happen here in the United States? There are 65 plants in the United States, and there are earthquakes every day. Rob Marciano, you've been looking into the risks. So, how great is it?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, a couple of these plants exist in California. We know what California -- where they lie, as far as the amount of motion that happens on the earth.

We'll go through a couple of these -- of them. As Carol mentioned, there's over 60 of them in the US, over 400 across the coun -- across the world. Here's where the Pacific Plate and the North American plate mix. Actually, what Sean just popped up are little earthquakes that have been occurring just in the last day or two. These are very, very minor, but they're an everyday occurrence out here.

Now, we'll zoom in to a couple of these power plants. The Diablo Canyon power plant, this is in -- just south of Monterrey. And this is, of course, near water. They typically need to be near a body of water, because that water helps cool the reactor and helps that system going.

That's not only near water, although a little bit above sea level, it's obviously in an area that's very, very active seismically. This is the San Onofre pressurized plant. Similarly, this is near water, but not necessarily up on a cliff. So, if there were to be a tsunami in California, this would be suspect.

The difference between California and Japan is that it's a different type of fault. So, it's a strike-slip fault, which typically doesn't result in a tsunami. So, we'd have to have some sort of earthquake up around Alaska or Oregon and Washington.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. You all know -- you've heard about this New Madrid seismic zone, it's near Memphis. It's not necessarily one big fault, it's a seismic zone that's fairly active. We've got a couple in here. We've got the Callaway, which is pressurized, the Clinton, not really near the seismic zone, but I want to zoom into this because it's one of the boiling type of reactors, which is significant because it's similar to the ones they've been using, there, in Japan.

So, let's go over exactly -- try to break this down simply how these things work and what the main problem is. Here is where you have your reactor vessel. That's where the rods are activated. And you have deionized water that goes in here.

And those rods get so hot that they boil quickly, let off a bunch of steam. That steam, then, travels through the pipes and gets into these turbines. Just like anything else, turbines create the energy. Energy goes out. And then, that steam gets into an area that's cool -- that cools it. This is the lakes or the oceans that's cooling this chamber and, then, that condenses the water and the system goes around and around and around.

But when this starts to break down, when we have the power shut off, this cooling water never gets to these rods, and that's what's causing the overheating.

So, the extent at which these plants are overheating or, potentially, melting down, we can't really speak specifically, at least I can't from here, but it's certainly a scary notion as to what would happen if this would not only continue to overheat but, potentially, melt through some of these containment walls.

COSTELLO: But the plants that are located near Memphis and, I think, on the Indiana border, you showed one, there's no real risk of a huge earthquake occurring there, is there?

MARCIANO: All around the New Madrid zone, that's one of the largest earthquakes that we had in our country's history. So, there is that risk, do they get all the way up to those areas? No, I think there's probably a greater risk of the earth moving out there in California.

COSTELLO: Well, and then, the other consideration, it wasn't -- the earthquake affected these plants in Japan, but it was really the ensuing tsunami that damaged them.

MARCIANO: And that's an excellent point, because there's backup systems. If that power goes off, and the power went off because of the earthquake, they have backup generators. Those generators were working fine. Then, the tsunami came, knocked those out and, then, the battery backups, they went down, eventually, later. So, you're right about that, it was the one-two punch that really caused this catastrophe. That is unlikely in the US.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, a couple of lawmakers, they're kind of leery of these nuclear plants across the United States now.

MARCIANO: Safety first.

COSTELLO: That's right. That's what we're going to talk about now. Senator Joe Lieberman, a proponent of nuclear energy is also talking about the threat of a post-quake nuclear meltdown here.

He had this to say on CBS' "Face the Nation."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: I don't want to stop the building of nuclear power plants but I think we've got to kind of quietly, quickly put the brakes on until we can absorb what has happened in Japan.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: And Congressman Edward Markey wants to go a step farther. He's calling for a moratorium on the building of new nuclear plants. Markey spoke last hour on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING"

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: In San Francisco, in 1906, it was an earthquake -- a 7.8. Again, the San Onofre nuclear power plant is only built to withstand a 7.0 out in California. So, no one really knows, let's be honest. None of these experts fully are -- can be 100 percent certain as to what a magnitude of an earthquake that can hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining us to talk about the effects on the nuclear power industry in our country is Tony Pietrangelo. He is the chief nuclear officer with the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Welcome.

TONY PIETRANGELO, CHIEF NUCLEAR OFFICER, NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE: Morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Your industry is under scrutiny. Congressman Edward Markey actually sent a letter to President Obama calling for this moratorium on new nuclear plans. And he's doing that because he says there is no clear plan in place in the case of a catastrophic accident. And he says it's not even clear what federal agency would be in charge.

How could that be?

PIETRANGELO: Well, he's clearly mistaken, Carol. There is a federal regulator, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that licenses our nuclear power plants. We are designed to withstand the most severe seismic events or earthquakes, as well as tsunamis where applicable, and flooding.

We have rules to deal with station blackout which is what they're experiencing in Japan. I noted in your earlier discussion, as you noted that what complicated the recovery of those units in Japan and is the one-two punch, the tsunami that came after the earthquake. Those plants responded quite well to a massive earthquake --

COSTELLO: But you well know you can't control mother nature. She's a lot more powerful than we are, right? You never know what could happen.

PIETRANGELO: Well that's why --

COSTELLO: I just want to go back to Congressman Markey's concerns. Like, if a catastrophic accident happened who would take the lead in figuring out what to do next?

PIETRANGELO: Well, the plant operators are responsible for safety at their plant. They're overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But make no mistake about it, the plant operators are responsible for the safety and reliability of their units.

COSTELLO: And I'm just thinking back to, like, you know, the BP oil spill because that's still fresh in our minds. We know that BP initially took the lead in that catastrophic event. BP wasn't exactly up front about what exactly was happening in the Gulf of Mexico. Not to say that your industry would do the same, but, you know, you have gobs of money at stake.

So why should America trust you guys?

PIETRANGELO: Well, you have to look at our performance, our safety and reliability over the last 30 years. We've learned a lot from our incident, the three-mile island event in 1979. We've enhanced safety across the industry. We produce 20 percent of America's electricity. We produce 70 percent of America's emission free electricity.

We stand on our performance record. It's out there for everyone to see. The NRC monitors us on a daily basis. They have resident inspectors. Our inspection reports are on the NRC's web site.

So we're as transparent as we can be and any other industry --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Have there been emergency drills taken place, like, you know, in conjunction with the federal government perhaps?

PIETRANGELO: Every two years every station undergoes an emergency planning exercise that is overseen by both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and FEMA. So that's practiced every two years at every site across the nation. In addition to that, there's local drills that are done. We have -- we're probably the gold standard of emergency planning and a lot of other industries have learned from what we do at our stations. So we are very well prepared to deal with emergencies and it's practiced and overseen on a regular basis.

COSTELLO: Something else Congressman Markey was concerned about. He says this potassium iodide, the emergency pills that you take after a nuclear disaster, which can actually prevent cancer, the cancer- causing effects of radiation, they've not been distributed to those living within 20 miles of a U.S. nuclear facility. And that's required by law.

So who's responsible for doing that?

PIETRANGELO: The potassium iodine pills are distributed within the emergency planning zone of each plant. That's designed to prohibit the ingestion of iodine into the thyroid.

COSTELLO: But, who does that? Is it you guys? Or is it the federal government?

PIETRANGELO: The utilities have done that for a long time in their areas. And I believe some state government has picked up some of that responsibility. But that's --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Why is Congressman Markey saying they haven't been handed out then as required by law?

PIETRANGELO: They haven't been handed out as far as he would like them to be handed out, I think is his point. But you'll have to ask Congressman Markey though.

COSTELLO: What does that mean? Like, is it -- they've been handed out in this 20-mile radius? Or, 10-mile radius?

PIETRANGELO: Yes. They're available within the emergency planning zone, which is a 10 mile radius of each nuclear power plant.

COSTELLO: So if I live within that 20 mile radius, where do I go to get my pill?

PIETRANGELO: In the emergency planning zone, there are distribution locations. But we're talking about something, Carol, that's never happened in our country. That would be a catastrophic accident. We have defense in depth at our plants to preclude that kind of event.

I think we're seeing as the events in Japan unfold, how well those areas of defense in depth work, particularly with regard to containment and structural integrity of the units despite a massive earthquake and then a massive tsunami to follow it. So the American public should be assured.

COSTELLO: Right. I just wanted to ask you and clarify, if an 8.9 magnitude earthquake happened here, would our nuclear plants be safe?

PIETRANGELO: They're designed for seismic events in their particular area. Obviously the west coast plants are in a higher seismic area so they're designed to higher standards than in the central and eastern United States. But it's based on a historical look at what's happened in those areas, what kind of soil or rock they sit on. So there's a lot of different attributes that go into the seismic design of those plants.

But, they are very robust. And I think as we've seen in Japan, despite the magnitude of that earthquake, they hold up quite well.

COSTELLO: Thank you for joining us this morning. We really appreciate it. Tony Pietrangelo.

PIETRANGELO: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: The utter devastation in parts of Japan presenting a massive challenge for rescue crews. Where do you start looking? We'll report on the rescue operation in one town, next.

And some survivors struggling to get access to the basics. But one community makes a chain to move water where it's needed, one bucket at a time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Search and rescue crews in Japan are facing an enormous and delicate mission. And it's even more difficult when their timely operations are interrupted by even more earthquake and tsunami warnings.

CNN's Martin Savidge is in Higashi-Matsushima, Japan. That's near Sendai. And Martin, we keep waiting to hear these miracle stories of survival, but we're not seeing many.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, we aren't. I mean, Carol, that really is, I think, one of the things that is beginning to sink in to a lot people here.

We've had one or two stories, quite remarkable, but not the dozens, not the hundreds maybe you would hope. Part of that, I suppose, is because of the way that this happened, at least, along the coastline, you had the earthquake, of course, that struck first, brings buildings down or people get trapped. But the tsunami that flowed in after it.

Your chances if you were in the tsunami area trapped and the water comes rushing in, I think you can pretty quickly realize. Which is why it seems -- very quickly now we seem to be making the transition to go from search and rescue into recovery.

I won't say there is no room for miracles left. Believe me. All of us are hoping for that especially after what you see on an hourly basis. The reality is though, it just does not seem that that likely, Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. And so many days have passed. And quickly, there are radiation concerns near where you are. How are you protecting yourself? Do you need to protect yourself?

SAVIDGE: Well, that's a very good question. Right now the basic way that we protect ourselves is to study the prevailing winds. We're located 40 to 50 miles from the plants that are in question so it is obviously a concern. The winds have been for the most part blowing out to sea but tonight they've been rather erratic and they're blowing very strong.

But as far as any other protections, I mean, we do have hazmat suits. But those are designed that you put on and get away. They're not designed that you put on and continue working. So we'll probably have other equipment that will come up here and we can monitor. We will only work as long as it is safe. No one is going to try to kill themselves for the sake of trying to get this story out. So, we will continue to work as professionally and as safely as we can. And, if need be, we'll move farther if that's what's required, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Martin Savidge, thanks so much, joining us from near Sendai, Japan.

If you want to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, here's how you can do it. Go to CNN.com/impact to reach our impact your world site. You'll find links to several charitable organizations where you can send or text donations. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The fallout from the earthquake is being felt in the financial markets as well. Japan's major stock exchange was open for business today.

Alison Kosik is following that from Wall Street. And Alison I heard it was a pretty brutal day for Japanese investors.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh yes, it was a rough session to say the least. Japan's Nikkei plunged six percent, it's the biggest loss for Japan's leading stock index since 2008, Carol.

Now, the concern is about what kind of long-term impact the disaster is going to have on the Japanese economy which was already in trouble. As for shares of well-known companies overnight, this is how they traded shares of Toyota, Sony, Nissan, all down eight percent to nine percent; Toshiba, Hitachi those were down 15 percent to 16 percent.

Japanese insurers they also plunged with the expectation that there are going to be hit with a slew of claims.

Now there is some good news at least on the financial side. The selloff does looks like it's mostly confined to Japan; markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong ended slightly higher; shares in Europe are down modestly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Now, what about U.S. investors? Are they're going to feel any of this?

KOSIK: You know, they could be right now. Japan is home to huge multinational companies. So some investors, they wind up being affected. No doubt today on Wall Street, Japan is really the focus today. We are seeing stocks in the red. The DOW right now down 49 points, the NASDAQ is off nine.

One way we really could feel it is in our imports. You know, think of what we get from Japan. We get our cars from Japan, talking about Honda, Toyota, Nissan. Those auto makers have temporarily stopped production in Japan.

We get technology from Japan. So Sony, temporarily stopping production as well. And analysts say that chips, hardware that are used in smart phones, those kinds of things that kind of technology could be affected because we import those items as well.

Also we're seeing it in oil prices. Oil prices are down about $5 in the past week. We're down to about $100 a barrel; that's on the anticipation that demand for oil in Japan will be lower at least in the short term -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, many thanks.

Time is running out for Japan's trapped survivors, but help is on the way from the United States. U.S. search-and-rescue teams among those international teams heading out to dig through the rubble. Our crews are with them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: There's only so much you can do when you're -- when a disaster strikes. For one Japanese woman who fled the tsunami, there was no time to grab belongings; she only had time to rescue her parents and nothing else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I left my house with nothing. All I managed to do was evacuate my elderly parents. I don't know what to do because my house and everything is gone. But everyone is in the same position here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: International relief teams are swarming into Japan to help. The United Nations says the United States and more than 60 other countries are offering up assistance. And there are the humanitarian groups, dozens of American groups are responding. According to InterAction.com, an alliance of relief organizations are participating; Doctors without Borders is on the list.

But on that group's Web site an unsettling line and it says that quote, "In the event of a serious nuclear incident, it is only the Japanese government that will be in a position to react."

It's been more than three days since disaster struck in Japan. And doctors say the first 72 hours are critical for finding survivors lost in the rubble. After that, hope begins to fade.

But there are people who beat the odds. After the Haiti quake in January of last year, search-and-rescue teams were still finding survivors more than a week after the quake hit. So right now, U.S. search-and-rescue teams are on their way to some of Japan's most devastated regions.

Our Brian Todd is with some of those team members in Ofunato. Brian, tell us what's happening.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we're just outside the town of Ofunato with search-and-rescue teams from Los Angeles County, California and Fairfax County, Virginia. We're also joined by a British contingent that will be working nearby where they are.

I heard you and Martin talking earlier about how there haven't been many hopeful signs, not many victims alive recovered from the earthquake. These teams are going to try to change that equation and try to find some people in this town of Ofunato that's been very hard hit by the earthquake.

They bring some unique capabilities. They've got a dozen canine teams. They've got listening devices, cameras, jackhammers, and heavy saws so they can cut through the rubble. You mentioned a moment ago that they do have a good track record of doing this. They did this in Haiti after the quake last year, they've done this in New Zealand, in Turkey, and elsewhere. Some of the teams from Fairfax responded to the Pentagon on 9/11.

So they have a long track record of getting to these devastated areas, getting into rubble, and very hard to get at places, where victims can become entombed but can sometimes survive for many days after these earthquakes strike.

So that's what they're going to be working on. That knowledge that they can get to people who might be in these voids, these pockets of rubble and get to them.

Again, you know, having no illusions about the tsunami after the earthquake and how that reduces their chances, they're still going to give it every shot they've got. They're like horses in the starting gate. Now, a very, very eager to get out there.

You've mentioned it's been three and a half days since the earthquake struck. They've had to pull 150 people, more than 60 tons of supplies and equipment halfway around the world. They've gone as fast as they possibly could to get here, but of course, that just can't happen right away. They've finally got everything in place, they're ready to fan out in the coming hours.

COSTELLO: And I know how courageous this team is. I've interviewed them many times, the team from Fairfax County. But things are a little more complicated this time, especially with, you know, possible radiation leaks. How are they protecting themselves against that?

TODD: They've got hazmat teams with them. They've got these -- these devices that measure the -- the radiation that they're going to be, you know, using on themselves and on us as we move around with them to make sure that everybody is safe.

They do have plans to, of course, get us out of these areas if they become a little bit, you know, if the radiation gets a little bit too high. We don't really anticipate that happening immediately in the area where we are, but they are going to be ready for that. They've got hazmat suits, teams, doctors, ready to respond if that happens.

COSTELLO: Brian Todd, many thanks.

He was caught in the devastating tsunami that smashed Japan's northeastern coastline but managed to swim to safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I thought I was dying when I was pushed in the water. For my folks, for my family, I decided to make every effort to survive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When we come back, we'll hear some amazing stories of survival from people who did everything possible to stay alive.

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COSTELLO: People who survived the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan are now telling their stories. And many of those stories are -- they're just absolutely heartbreaking. Some people saw their entire communities swept away. But certainly not their will to live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a gigantic earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0. This man says he thought he was about to die as he was being washed away.

There are several people who made narrow escapes. Ishikawa (ph) says he was pushed into a wave after his house collapsed. Ishikawa says he then grabbed hold of a submerged fishing boat that had been swept away. He was then able to get to the surface and looked for something to hold on to.

He said he thought of his family members and realized that he has to survive. He says he decided to do everything possible at that point to stay alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She hung on to the tree with the water all around her. She says she hung on for dear life and then a tatami floor mat drifted near her so she got on the tatami floor mat and floated around and around in the water completely helpless. She drifted around the houses and found herself washed near the school. She says her daughter was washed away with her but has not been found.

This man says his family is safe. But his house has been destroyed. He says that beyond the houses still standing, there are still more houses but they're all gone.

I lost everything in an instant. I could save my life, I'm alive but I don't know if it's good or bad. I don't know if it's good or bad that I survived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)