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Japan's Disaster Sacks Stocks; Dangers Involved at Japanese Nuclear Reactors; How Much Radiation Exposure is Safe?; Social Networking For Japan; The Help Desk; Talk Back Question; Tsunami's Impact on One Town
Aired March 15, 2011 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed.
Fire and another explosion rocked Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant today. Officials say the blast, the third, was the biggest yet. It may have damaged the concrete and steel case which is supposed to contain radioactive debris during a disaster. Radioactivity spiked to dangerous levels for a time but have since fallen back.
For the second time, U.S. helicopter crews had to be scrubbed clean after picking up low-level radiation during flights near the Fukushima plant. Some American pilots are taking potassium iodine pills to protect the thyroid gland from effects of radiation poisoning.
Dow stocks are taking their cue from Japanese markets today and falling hard. Right now, down -- the blue chips down 206 points. They started the day by plunging close to 300. Japan's Nikkei lost 10 percent of its value today.
A CNN crew shot these scenes out of Ofunato today. The coastal fishing town was home to 41,000 people. Rescuers from the United States say they will be pulling bodies from this wreckage for some time to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF CHRIS SCHAUF, AMERICAN RESCUE WORKER: You look at it, and the big picture, it is easy to get overwhelmed. The way that we break it down, by sticking with search teams, groups, and breaking it down to small coordinates and small grids. It makes it easier for the guys and girls to focus on their jobs while they're here so you can move from grid to grid instead of city to city. That would be too much and too much to process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The desperation is occasionally punctuated by the discovery of a survivor. This elderly man spent 96 hours under the rubble before rescuers found him.
Well, three days of not knowing end for these family members. They hold an emotional reunion at the shelter and learn that none of their relatives died in the disaster.
Well, Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie will tour tsunami damage in his state today. His office has lowered damage estimates from $300 million to tens of millions. The tsunami left its mark on dozens of homes and seaside hotels when it hit before dawn on Friday.
The disaster in Japan is setting the markets reeling. Alison Kosik, she's at the New York Stock Exchange with the latest.
And Alison, tell us -- analysts have been saying for some time now the markets have risen too much, too fast, that they're ripe for a pullback. Is that what we're actually seeing now?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That is exactly what we're seeing, Suzanne. You know, there's really been a growing sense here on Wall Street for a long time that this rally would at some point because of the big run-up that Wall Street had recently, and it looks like Japan could be the tipping point. And the losses that we have had have really wiped out all of the gains for this year.
The Dow is down seven percent from the peak this year. The good news is right now we are done 189 points. I know it sounds bad, but we are off our lows. At one point today, Suzanne, we were down as much as 280 points.
But there are many more hours left in the day of this session. You know how it is. Anything could happen -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Alison. Appreciate it.
Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on our big story of the day, the Japanese quake and tsunami. Some people seem to be getting in trouble for what they're saying about it.
Our Carol Costello is joining us for the "Talk Back" segment.
And Carol, people are weighing in on this.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly are weighing in.
You know, what's going on in Japan is unbelievably tragic. Thousands are dead. Tens of thousands are homeless. And there is now a very real threat of a nuclear meltdown.
Nothing to joke about it. Right? Wrong.
Comedian Gilbert Gottfried, voice of AFLAC's famous duck, tweeted jokes like this one about the tsunami: "Japan is really advanced. They don't go the beach. The beach comes to them."
AFLAC promptly fired Gottfried. His tweets were pulled. But insensitive Japan jokes were all over the Twitterverse. And they didn't just come from comedians.
Rapper 50 Cent talked about evacuating his hoes from L.A., Hawaii, and Japan. The rapper later said his tweets were for shock value and expressed sympathy for the victims.
And in sports, WNBA star Cappie Pondexter had to apologize after tweeting that God might have been punishing Japan for Pearl Harbor.
Even a politician, an aide to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, quit after being busted for writing insulting e-mails, including one poking fun at Japan.
Dark humor is one thing, but this is just plain mean. It's callous. It's seemingly done without empathy and with little thought.
So, "Talk Back" today: Why do some people feel it's OK to joke about tragedy?
Send your comments to Facebook.com/CarolCNN, and I will read your comments later this hour.
MALVEAUX: Hard to understand sometimes. You know?
COSTELLO: Well, it's just so soon. It's like, stop it.
MALVEAUX: Yes. Yes. I understand.
Carol, thanks.
COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.
Here's what's ahead "On the Rundown."
With three explosions and a fire at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, we're going to look at each of those failed reactors.
Plus, find out how you're being exposed to radiation every day.
And meet a little girl who is raising money for Japan's earthquake and tsunami victims by selling her artwork. She's right here in the NEWSROOM.
And finally, Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to a man who was trapped in his car, swept away in the tsunami.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Over and over I was hit," he said. And then his car flooded. He was slowly drowning, and so he tried to smash the window with his right hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Another explosion today rocked a Japanese nuclear power plant damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. All eyes are on those six reactors at the Fukushima power plant after a series of explosions over the last couple of days.
Well, officials told workers to evacuate the area. They instructed people who live within about 20 miles' radius to stay indoors because of potential radiation dangers.
Our meteorologist, Chad Myers, he is here with more on what is taking place at that plant, the dangers involved.
Chad, break it down for us, if you would.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We will step back all the way to the time of the earthquake on Friday. And, in fact, the earthquake did not damage this facility.
The earthquake shook the facility, the earthquake shut down the facility properly. It was acting and reacting properly as all the generators, the backup generators, were working perfectly, pumping cool water into the reactors, keeping them cool. Cooling them down even though they weren't generating electricity, cooling them down properly as a normal shutdown procedure.
Then the tsunami came in and flooded the generators. Those generators then all stopped working. So, therefore, the water stopped pumping into the reactors.
As the reactors stopped getting water, they moved to another backup power plant, power system, which was battery. That battery acted for a while. Batteries eventually drain down.
They put all this back together, trying to pump water into the reactors. Reactor number 1 and reactor number 3 were the first to have problems, the first ones to say, wait a minute, we're not getting enough water here, we're not cooling down enough. This is what's going on.
So let's go to the rest of the graphics. We'll go day by day by day.
After the initial water shutdown, after -- all of a sudden, there was not the water properly here. Here's 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the ocean is over here, all the flooded water, the flooded generators in here.
As 1 and 3 went down, eventually we had some radiation leaking out in steam. That was normal. They expected that.
Water was getting poured in by saltwater. Seawater was then being poured in to kill these reactors altogether.
As this happened, the steam being released did have some radiation in it. It did. But then the radiation blew away. Much of it, the isotopes, just lose the radiation altogether.
Then we had problems with 2 and then we had problems with 4. Well, what we know is that 4 wasn't even running. At the time of the reaction, 4 wasn't even doing anything. It was just sitting there. But the Japanese take their spent fuel rods and put the spent fuel rods into the -- basically almost the attic of the system. And the spent fuel rods, I believe, is what caused reactor number 4 today to catch fire.
There's Monday. The explosions took place. All of this happened one after another. It was a series of events that caused all of this to happen.
And today, explosions at number 2, although some people -- and there are leaking stories that maybe the core -- the containment chamber may have been damaged by this explosion. I believe that if the core had a crack in it, that the radiation would be spiking. We would know that.
We didn't see that. We saw spiking radiation when reactor 4 was on fire because those old fuel rods were on fire. They put those out so far.
And so far, at least at this point in time -- I know it's getting late there now, but the radiation is coming down. And that's great news, because the wind is blowing right toward Tokyo and right toward the populated areas for the next six hours. A cold front goes by and pushes it away. I know you think radiation kind of goes everywhere, but wind does blow it around, at least a little bit -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Just a little bit of good news there for folks. Thank you, Chad. Appreciate it.
MYERS: Yes. Sure.
MALVEAUX: When we talk about the nuclear crisis in Japan, it's important to remember that every day we all encounter some trace levels of radiation, even from sources you might not even think of as radioactive.
Our Carl Azuz, he's looking into this aspect of the story.
And Carl, I guess there are levels of exposure, radiation, that happen all the time, that we're not even aware of. Yes?
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Absolutely. You and I are getting some trace amounts of radiation right now in a TV studio, Suzanne. And then when you step outside there are levels of radiation.
There is some in the air we breathe. You see here, UV and cosmic waves. These travel through space.
The Earth's atmosphere does a great job of protecting us from these, but they are out there. Elements of radiation are in the air. We're talking about radon. They're in the air we breathe.
In some cases, you've heard about radon gases in homes. Those can approach unsafe levels.
And then trace elements on the ground as well that we get. We're talking about radium, carbon-14 that they use for carbon dating. And even uranium in trace elements from the ground we're exposed to that, of course, is used in larger amounts to power these nuclear reactors.
One unit of measurement I went with for this report is a millisievert. That's named for a Swedish radiologist named Rolf Sievert. Naturally occurring radiation exposes Americans to around three millisieverts a year. So that's the benchmark we're looking at, but it's not always that case, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: So, is there any circumstance where we are exposed to high radiation, even perhaps dangerous levels of radiation?
AZUZ: Yes. And when you start talking about dangerous, that becomes a little more subjective.
But when we step on a plane, there's less of the Earth's atmosphere above us because we're higher up, obviously, to protect us. So we're looking at .03 of a millisievert. It's still a small amount. It's about three days' worth of naturally-occurring radiation.
We get that in about five hours. But look at what happens in a chest x-ray, .1 of a millisievert. That's about 10 days' worth.
You go up to a mammogram, .7 of a millisievert. That's three months' worth of naturally-occurring radiation in just a few minutes. And then if you have a CT scan, the number jumps to 8 millisieverts, and that's the equivalent of three years' worth.
One thing I want to underscore is that, independently, a CT scan, x-rays, they're not considered dangerous for us. They're not considered life-threatening or anything like that. But if you have multiple CT scans, multiple x-rays over the course of the year, that's when concerns deepen.
MALVEAUX: All right. Carl, thank you. Appreciate it.
AZUZ: Thank you, Suzanne. Appreciate it.
MALVEAUX: Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's going to join us with the story of a man who was swept away in his car when the tsunami hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA (voice-over): Watching Iobashi (ph) closely, it is clear he is haunted by what happened to him. The tsunami robbed him of just about everything. In fact, you're looking at all he has left. But then, a rare smile. And he tells me, almost in disbelief, "I am still alive."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUKA KOBAY ASHI, GAVE BIRTH DURING TSUNAMI (through translator): I talked to the baby in my tummy -- "Today might not be a good day for you to come out. You might want to stay there." There are so many people injured and the hospital is strained.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Sure. It wasn't the best time to go into labor, during an earthquake and a tsunami, but it all turned out OK. Little Yukia (ph) was born the next day. Her name means happiness and love.
We need some happy stories.
This one also just grabs your heart. One of the most vulnerable victims of the disaster in Japan, found alive and kicking. She's only four months old, and rescuers heard her cries in the rubble and dug her out. The little girl was swept away from her parents when the tsunami hit, but doctors say she is doing just fine.
Another story of survival, this one from a man who was swept away in his car when the tsunami hit. He spoke with our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): The images are tough to watch. But as I learned, the stories are even harder to hear.
You see those cars being tossed around like toys? Well, this man, Iobashi (ph), was in one of them. And he lived to tell about it.
(on camera): So you were looking out your windshield and you saw the water coming?
(voice-over): He tried to escape, but it was too late. "Over and over I was hit," he said. And then his car flooded. He was slowly drowning, and so he tried to smash the window with his right hand.
Finally, he got the car to open, but the water pinned the door back on his hips and his leg. Mr. Iobashi (ph) doesn't know how he was saved. The next thing he remembered was pulling up in the ambulance to Saka Hospital.
(on camera): Well, as you might imagine, triage is a big deal at a place like this. Here at Saka Hospital, they basically categorize patients into four categories immediately: green, if it was a relatively minor injury; yellow, if it was more serious; red, if it was very serious; and black, if the patient had died. When Mr. Iobashi (ph) came in, he was considered a red.
(voice-over): Critically injured, his life was now in the hands of Dr. Takanori Sasaki (ph).
(on camera): So it's important to point out Dr. Sasaki (ph) has been here since Friday. He never left the hospital since the earthquake occurred and has been taking care of these patients as head of the emergency room. (voice-over): Day after day, Saka Hospital stayed open with Dr. Sasaki (ph) in charge, taking care of hundreds of patients. In Japan, near drownings and cardiac arrest are the most common serious injuries seen, followed by head and crush injuries.
(on camera): Now, Dr. Sasaki (ph) has been here since Friday. And I want to give you an idea of just how busy the busiest hospital has been after the earthquake and tsunami. Six hundred patients seen here over the last several days. Seventy-nine patients remain, 13 patients have died.
(voice-over): Watching Iobashi (ph) closely, it is clear he is haunted by what happened to him. The tsunami robbed him of just about everything. In fact, you're looking at all he has left. But then, a rare smile, and he tells me, almost in disbelief, "I am still alive."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Well, joining us now, Dr. Sanjay Gupta from Akita, Japan.
Sanjay, so nice to see you.
I mean, if you could just speak to us about the incredible resilience of people who have survived this, shown by the man that you profiled.
GUPTA: Yes, it's really incredible, Suzanne.
And one thing I'll point out is that this particular area that was so hard hit along the northeastern coast of Japan, there's a lot of retirement communities in that area. So of you look at the demographics of the people who were most affected by this, they tend to skew older. A lot of people like Mr. Iobashi (ph) there.
There is a significant mental and sort of almost emotional impact of this. You could see it in Mr. Iobashi's (ph) eyes.
He's living his life, he's retired, and then essentially he loses everything with any resources to sustain him. He's in the hospital. He's going to recover from these physical injuries. But I think what happens next, over the next several days, weeks, months, that's where a lot of the focus is going to be.
There are a lot of people who are displaced, that have no homes to return to like him. And what exactly is going to happen to them is a big question.
MALVEAUX: A big question.
And Sanjay, you were there the week after the disaster, the earthquake in Haiti. Now you're there in Japan. Are there similarities? Are there differences?
GUPTA: Well, you know, I'll tell you, Suzanne, from a medical standpoint, what happened in Haiti, you had all types of different injuries as a result of these buildings essentially collapsing and causing crush injuries. So there were so many people who certainly died after the earthquake in Haiti, and so many people who lived and were just sort of OK. But there was a huge percentage of people dying.
Here in Japan, it's a little bit different. Obviously, we know of the numbers of people who died, but there are a lot of people who are sort of that walking wounded. They were injured, but able to walk to hospitals and leave hospitals.
There was a smaller percentage of people like Mr. Iobashi (ph) who were critically injured. So hospitals had hundreds of patients come in, but, again, as you saw the numbers there, Suzanne, the vast majority of them were able to leave within a couple of days. So that's good news.
And they get great care here in Japan. I mean, this country is seemingly designed to be able to take care of situations like this, everything from the building codes to the hospital care that's available.
MALVEAUX: Clearly, a big difference in resources there.
Sanjay, are there any people who are worried about radiation? We see these reports coming out of these nuclear plants. There have got to be some concerns.
GUPTA: There is. And I think it's a big topic of discussion at, for example, the evacuation centers that we have been visiting over the last few days.
You know, as much as there is anxiety about what is known and the news reports that are coming out, what I would say to you is that there seems to be almost as much, if not more, anxiety about what is unknown. You know, this is just a topic that is confusing to people.
They know about nuclear power, generally, radiation, radiation leaks, radiation poisoning, sickness. All of that, for most people, just immediately starts to breed anxiety.
We know there are elevated levels like Chad was just talking about near one of these reactors. Whether those levels are high enough to actually cause any sort of short-term or long-term impact on a large majority of people in terms of their human health is probably unlikely. But could there be higher levels in the future? Could more of that radiation escape? Those are the discussions that are taking place among people.
And remember, as many people were displaced by the tsunami, you also have a lot of people who were evacuated from around these plants who also need a place to live. And so it's just adding -- compounding that same problem.
MALVEAUX: Sure. I can imagine the uncertainty obviously adding to that anxiety, that sense of anxiety.
Sanjay, thank you very much. Excellent reporting.
Well, homeless and hungry in Japan. Food is also in short supply, and yet patience isn't. Listen to one of these from our iReporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE HAKKARAINEN, CNN IREPORTER: People are so, you know, organized. And they have high sense of morals. Nobody breaks into things. Well, not nobody, but in this part of town, it's very organized. It works like a clock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And as this crisis worsens, our Drew Griffin investigates what some are calling Japan's questionable history of nuclear safety.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's a look at what's ahead "On the Rundown."
Are people in Japan getting the whole truth about the nuclear crisis? Well, critics say that the power company has a history of cover-ups.
Also, a 6-year-old sells art to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami.
Plus, social media to raise money for Japan.
And finally, a block-by-block tour of the destruction of one small Japanese town.
Now, as horrific as the Japanese nuclear disaster seems to be, records show that there has been a pattern of what critics call a cover-up when it comes to releasing facts and safety figures by the main operators of those plants that are now in crisis.
Our Drew Griffin, from CNN's Special Investigations Unit, has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are now almost certainly dead, never to be used again. The question is, can the danger inside be maintained? Can the nuclear material be continuously cooled? And can the dangerous radiation leak into the environment be averted?
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, is preaching calm, that a catastrophic radiation leak can be averted. But they've said that before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The history of the Japanese nuclear industry and the government that is very closely tight with the industry is less than glorious in regard to public information and full disclosure. And what is going on now is actually an illustration of that.
GRIFFIN: Argune Mikushani (ph) is an anti-nuclear activist and is extremely concerned that this crisis seemingly under some control may not be under control at all. Both Japanese government officials and the private owners of nuclear power plants deny that.
But TEPCO doesn't have a history to inspire confidence. In 2002, the president of the power company and four executives resigned after it was discovered repair and inspection records were falsified. "Dishonest practices," the company admitted later.
PHILLIP WHITE, CITIZENS' NUCLEAR INFORMATION CENTER: It was discovered that TEPCO, Tokyo Electric Power Company, had covered up incidences of cracking within an important piece of equipment within the reactor vessel, within one of its reactors. And as a result, they were forced to close down all 17 of their reactors.
GRIFFIN: And the plant with the worst record? Fukushima Daiichi, the plant now in trouble.
WHITE: There's a pattern emerged that TEPCO isn't frank and deliberately covers up to protect its own interests.
Despite promises to regain public confidence, TEPCO's honesty was questioned again in 2007 when a 6.8 earthquake struck western Japan, shaking the Kashawasaki Kariwa (ph) nuclear plant. TEPCO reported only a minor fire at the plant and less than a gallon of water leakage. Later, the public learned that the fire burned for two hours and hundreds of gallons of radioactive water had leaked into the sea.
The plant that is now in trouble survived the most recent quake. A quake stronger than it was designed for. By design the reactors immediately shut themselves down. Good news, according to this spokesperson for the group that lobbies the U.S. Congress on pro- nuclear power issues.
UNIENTIFIED MALE: I think as we have seen in Japan, despite the magnitude of that earthquake they hold up quite well.
GRIFFIN: But it turns out surviving the quake was not the end of the crisis. At Fukushima Daiichi, the backup power, 13 diesel electric generators, ran for awhile, then failed. When the generators failed, so did the water pumps that cooled the reactors.
WHITE: You have in total six reactors that have been under great stress with problems cooling the core. And just as you think you might have got under control of one, then another one goes.
GRIFFIN: Unlike the shattering moments of an earthquake or the powerful surge of the tsunami, this disaster will linger for months, if not longer, as Japanese nuclear workers try to cool the reactors whose heat has helped to power Japan for more than 40 years, and now threatens it. Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Well, a six-year-old does what she can to help the disaster victims in Japan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, well, what are you really good at? She said, "Well, I'm an artist. So I will make art."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was trying to, like, do a window sill, but this was blue.
(END VIDEO LCIP)
It is amazing. This kindergartner was selling her art for charity, and SHE has already raised quite a bit of money. We're going to meet her and her mom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Pictures of the disaster in Japan have so many people asking what they can do to help. Well, one little girl came up with a great idea, and she's selling her art to raise money for the earthquake and the tsunami victims.
I want to show you some of the pictures here. Tuesday Muse, she's a six-year-old, in kindergarten. She's already raised about $300. And Tuesday and her mom, Keely Muse, are joining us now. Thank you so much for being here. This is the best part of the show.
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: This is a happy story! Tuesday, it's nice to see you. Can you show me your art? Which -- what is this?
TUESDAY MUSE, SELLLING HER ART TO RAISE MONEY FOR QUAKE VICTIMS: That's a flower pot.
MALVEAUX: Mm-hmm. And did you do that yourself?
T. MUSE: Yep. I do it with some stamps, but only this part I painted.
MALVEUAX: Oh, you painted them. And you're selling your pictures now. Is that right? Can you tell us why?
T. MUSE: Because it's for tsunami relief and it's pretty bad.
MALVEAUX: It's pretty bad. Have you seen some of those pictures, those bad pictures? The flooding, and the people losing their homes? Yes. This is such a great thing you're doing here.
Oh, she's smiling because I think she sees herself on TV. (LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: Tell us, Mom, tell us how this came about.
KEELY MUSE, DAUGHTER RAISING MONEY FOR JAPAN: Well, we were watching the images on Friday. And she can get pretty affected by these disasters in the past. So, when I looked at her after she saw the video, I was worried.
Her first question was what can we do? And I told her, you know, I can donate money. She was like but what can I do? So, we talked about how people do drives and how's there are disaster relief organizations, like the Red Cross, which is around the corner from us, so we drive by it all the time.
And she started toying with the idea of a lemonade stand or a cookie stand. Then we talked about what would be special that she does. And she said "I'm an artist. I want to make art."
MALVEAUX: Wow. Those are such pretty pictures!
K. MUSE: Can you put it down?
MALVEUAX: Tuesday, can you show me another one? Now these are going on eBay? Is that right?
K. MUSE: We started an eBay account last night because we were getting so many e-mails from people who want to keep buying art from Tuesday. We did the sale on Sunday morning on our street corner, but it keeps going. So, we did. We set up an eBay account and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.
MALVEUAX: And Tuesday, what is this one? Is this actually of a building?
T. MUSE: So, this is my house, and this is, like, a -- like a crane. We want to move our house somewhere else, but I just couldn't do the rest.
MALVEAUX: Okay. So they want to move the house. Did you paint anything about the people over there? The water or the earthquake? I understand you have some of those too, huh?
T. MUSE: Well, I, like, have a little picture of it on my poster.
MALVEAUX: On your poster?
T. MUSE: On my sign.
K. MUSE: On the sign, she drew a picture of the tsunami wave coming, and people in the wave.
MALVEAUX: And Tuesday, what would you like your pictures -- this is such a great idea - are going to raise money for those there. What do you hope that they will buy if they can buy anything? T. MUSE: Something to build a house.
MALVEAUX: Somebody to build their house. Yes. Well, Tuesday, you're doing an excellent, excellent job. This is an amazing - an amazing time. And we really appreciate that. Congratulations.
K. MUSE: Say thanks.
T. MUSE: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: And you're on TV.
Thank you again. They're wonderful pictures.
K. MUSE: No problem. Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Appreciate your help. Thanks, Tuesday. OK.
Well, social networking at its finest. The tech crowd is going all-out for Japan. And the cash is pouring in. Our Silicon Valley correspondent breaks down how social media is making a difference.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: It's the very definition of social networking, connecting with people online to achieve a common goal. Well, it is paying off big time in Japan. Our CNN Silicon Valley correspondent, Dan Simon, who is joining us from Austin, Texas. And Dan, it looks like, you know, it's techies to the rescue here! This is amazing what's happening, yes?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look. Some of the greatest minds for technology are here in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest festival. It hosts a huge interactive conference every year. And just as things kicked off, the earthquake in Japan happened. So, many got together to figure out what to do to help the victims in Japan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON: Charlie Annanberg Weingarten manages his family's $2 billion foundation. A dog lover attending the South By Southwest festival, he received a phone call here from a group looking for a help in sending search and rescue dogs to Japan.
CHARLIE ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN, PHILANTHROPIST: I said, you know what? Of course I'd love to help. But I want to try something if you'll work with me. I want to try something that maybe will bring the collective spirit of people together.
SIMON: So, he asked people here at the conference to become fans of his Facebook page called Dog Bless You and then tweeted it to others.
WEINGARTEN: I said if we get to 100,000 fans in five days, I'll donate $100,000. SIMON: It took only two days. Cameron Sinclair runs Architecture for Humanity, an organization that has given $75,000 to Japan, but pledges to give even more based on retweets to its fan page.
CAMERON SINCLAIR, ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY: You know, our teams from Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo tweeted me and instant messaged me and said we need your help. And we were able to bring in some seed funding to do a green light to respond to the issue.
SIMON: Of course, charitable giving through social networks is not new. But experts say its already occurring at a pace even greater than after the earthquake last year in Haiti.
Traditional fundraising methods have not been as successful. But online, it's certainly showing a spike.
BILL STRATHMANN, CEO, NETWORK FOR GOOD: That's one of the differences we've seen in this disaster is that the giving is accelerating right now. And that people should know they're a click away from making a difference. And it obviously feels really good when you do it.
SIMON: Even photo sharing apps have a Japan link. The co-founder of Instagram, a popular photo-sharing app for the iPhone, tells CNN thousands of its users have tweeted moving images.
MIKE KRIEGER, CO-FOUNDER, INSTAGRAM: Just to create that much empathy between people and create those connections at such an early stage is incredible for me.
SIMON: This one shows a little boy holding up a card. Another with a simple message, "Hope is on the way." All of these instant messages and tweeted and shared through a vast Internet landscape.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: So, Dan, when it comes to this type of giving, it seems like it's a double-edged sword, yes?
SIMON: Well, it's interesting. When you look at the number of people actually donating, the numbers seem to be up at this stage of the event. But when you look at the actual dollars coming in, according to some of the experts we've talked to, the number of dollars is actually lower compared to other previous disasters.
And one of the operating theories here is, you know, when you text that $5 or $10, you may be less likely to actually send that $50 or $100 check. So you might be dealing with a little bit of a double- edged sword here. We'll, of course, have to see how this shapes out and, of course, the charities are going to be looking at this very closely.
Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Dan. There's a great need in Japan. Really appreciate your story.
So, if you're watching this story and you're moved to help, you can. Log on to cnn.com/impact.
Well, some high-profile people are joking about the earthquake in Japan. And that brings us to our question, why do some people think it's OK to joke about tragedy? A lot of you are getting in touch with us in our "Talk Back" segment. Paul writes, "plain and simple, it's a coping method." More of your responses in just moments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's time now for "The Help Desk." This is where we get answer to your final questions. And with me this hour, Donna Rosato. She's a senior editor at "Money." And Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is a writer at walletpop.com.
So, ladies, we're going to tap into your knowledge right now. We've got a couple of questions from some of our viewers. The first one comes from Marva in Georgia who writes, "how can I find an independent financial planner who does not sell a product and how should I evaluate his or her qualifications? I am 64 years old and have diverse investments and anticipate retirement next year."
Getting ready, Donna.
DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Well, Marva is very right, it's very smart to look for someone who is independent. There's a lot of financial adviser out there who are going to push products that they earn commissions on that aren't necessarily right for you.
So, how do you find an independent financial adviser? A great source is to look for someone who's a fee only planner. Someone who will charge you buy the hour or a flat fee or a percentage of your assets. But you kind of need a lot of money for that. You can find them through NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, which is at napfa.org.
And as far as credentials that you want to look for in someone, look for someone who's a certified financial planner or a CFA, a charter financial analyst, or even a CPA who has something called a -- a certification called personal financial specialist. So those are the ways that she can find some good, objective advice.
ELAM: All right. So our next question comes to us from Reggie. And he writes in, "I foreclosed and filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2007. When am I eligible to purchase a home with a VA loan?"
Lynnette.
LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, WRITER, WALLETPOP.COM: Well, actually he's eligible right now. You only have to wait two years from the date of your bankruptcy discharge, if you have a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, in order to acquire a VA loan. So that's good news.
That's not the only thing that you have to do though. You have to also reestablish credit and show that you're credit worthy and you also have to have income. Of course, a lot of folks (ph) on the private side and even the federal government who is, you know, insuring certain loans through FHA or VA are requiring that you document your income. So you have to show that you do have the income, the credit. And, of course, if they, you know, think you need any assets to show as well to prove that you can support the mortgage.
ELAM: Right, so there's more to go into it. But, yes, technically, yes he can start right now.
KHALFANI-COX: Now, yes.
ELAM: All right, cool. Well, thank you so much for your information, ladies, as always.
ROSATO: Sure.
ELAM: And, of course, if you have a question that you'd like for us to ask these people who know so much, we're happy to help you out. Send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We're keeping our focus on Japan's nuclear and humanitarian crisis. But I want to get a quick look at some other stories that are happening right now.
A funeral is being held for seven children who died in a fire at their Pennsylvania home last week. The children ranged in age from seven months to 11 years old. The cause of the farmhouse fire is still being investigated.
In Libya, Moammar Gadhafi's troops have retaken yet another town from the rebels. We are also getting reports of two air strikes today in opposition-held cities.
And Bahrain's king is now imposing a state of emergency. It comes one day after troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates moved in to help weeks of protests. Washington is urging Americans to get out of Bahrain.
Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. Some high-profile folks are making jokes about the earthquake in Japan.
And, Carol, you are getting an unbelievable number of responses on this one.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm surprised, but we are. A lot of people feel passionately about this and a lot of people are more forgiving than perhaps I would be of Gilbert Gottfried. Because, as you know, Aflac fired him for making, um, I guess for tweeting jokes about Japan.
So, the "Talk Back" question today, why do some people feel it's OK to joke about tragedy.
This from Mack. He says, "some people feel it's OK to joke about tragedy because it is OK to joke about tragedy. Many people may find it unfunny or insensitive, but it's still OK to make the joke if you want to. That's the beauty of free speech."
This from Beckie. "Some would say coping mechanism, some would say racism. I say people who make jokes about tragedy are just ignorant boobs who are insecure and see these jokes as a way to be popular."
This from Amanda. "Some people don't know how to deal with tragedies. They make fun of an issue instead of actually dealing with their emotions."
And this from Joy. "I myself am half Japanese and I find it offensive, not humorous. Some people are the type who love to crack jokes all the time, but there is a fine line between funny and way too far."
Thanks again for all of you for sharing your thoughts. And keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn.
MALVEAUX: I thought it was interesting, one of the viewers said it's all about timing. This is just -- it's too soon, it's too fresh, it's just --
COSTELLO: I can understand comedians like Chris Rock, because he jokes about serious issues in order to help us understand something more deeply. I didn't get this from Gilbert Gottfried. I just got this as being an insensitive person who wanted attention.
MALVEAUX: Yes.
COSTELLO: Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. But a lot of people had a lot of different opinions on FaceBook.
MALVEAUX: And he's gotten a lot of attention. A lot of people paying very close attention to this.
COSTELLO: Yes, and he got fired.
MALVEAUX: Yes.
COSTELLO: He had an easy gig. Got fired. So --
MALVEAUX: All right. A lot of people weighing in on this, though. It's unbelievable.
COSTELLO: Yes. Facebook.com/carolcnn if you still want to.
MALVEAUX: Thanks for all your comments. OK, thanks, Carol. Appreciate it.
COSTELLO: Sure. MALVEAUX: Well, CNN's Soledad O'Brien, she's on the ground in one small Japanese town and she gives us a block by block tour of the tsunami's devastation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: An American living in Japan captured the destructive power of the tsunami as it was rolling through his town. Watch and listen.
(VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: We have seen unbelievable pictures of the tsunami's destruction for days. What do these towns look like on the ground now? Well, our CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien gives us a block by block tour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You can see those overturned cars down there and just absolute debris. This is what it looks like when a tsunami slams into a much bigger city. This city has a population -- it's called Kesennuma and it has a population of about 70,000 people, we're told. And so the damage, 90 percent tsunami, 10 percent earthquake damage. So these buildings collapsed, although some of them were able to hold up well. But look at this. This is the kind of really almost equivalent of some of the stuff we saw in Haiti where just -- the structure just folds in on itself. That's because the earthquake happened.
And then residents here tell us about 15 minutes later, from the water came a massive wave that just roared through this town that goes straight back up that way. Collapsed everything here. And the force of the water, as you can see, powerful enough to bring this ship in on the sidewalk.
So when people are trying to figure out just how strong and how powerful a tsunami can be, this is a pretty good example of what the people here were dealing with. It is no surprise that a number of people in this town lost their lives. That the search and rescue is still looking for more people.
And, today, they're trying to figure out what to do next. Many people asked us, what do you know? What are you hearing? We're not getting any information. Kesennuma, about two hours north of Sendai. Some of the people here saying they feel very cut off from understanding what the next step is going to be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Excellent report. And our CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.
Hey, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne. Good to see you. Have a great afternoon.
MALVEAUX: Thanks. You too.
