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Updates in the Search Missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370; Multiple Earthquakes Felt in Southern California; At Least 18 Dead in Washington Mudslide; Mary Barra Will Testify on Tuesday Bbefore U.S. Congress

Aired March 30, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome back.

We're getting new information now this hours about the search for flight 370. Let's get straight to it.

Crews scour the southern Indian Ocean are now on the lookout for a potential new clue, four orange objects about six feet long spotted today in the certainly zone. Australian officials leading the operation say they are worth investigating and ships are on the way to the area now. Several other objects turned out to be fishing equipment and trash.

And one escapable fact on everyone's mind, the battery life on the flight recorder pingers is running out. There's only about a week left. And because of that critical deadline, an Australian ship carrying a U.S. pinger locator and other undersea search equipment leaves for the search zone in a few hours. It is expected to arrive there Thursday.

Australia's prime minister says search crews are prepared for challenges ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Frankly, this government won't rest until we've done everything we reasonably can to give those families and to give the wider community of the world a little more peace and a little more insight into exactly what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So there have been lots of objects in the Indian Ocean but not expected to Malaysian airlines 370. Why not?

I want to bring in Rob McCollum. He is an ocean search specialist and a professional expedition leader.

So, there have been 10 planes searching today. And the Australian crew calls the four new objects that they spotted a promising lead. But boy, have people been disappointed in the last few days. There has been, you know, satellite imagery, a plane who spotted, you know, objects and then come to find out it ends up being debris or crash. So, how promising do these objects sound to you, six feet in length?

ROB MCCOLLUM, OCEAN SEARCH SPECIALIST: Here is hoping. You know, I mean, every day we ride this roller coaster. It's hard for people to understand why is it so difficult. And I think there's a number of things we can glean out of the last few days.

The first is that the ocean is a vast body of water. We're used to hearing sort of cliched lines that, you know, 70 percent of our planet is covered in seawater. But it is only when we actually conduct a practical exercise like searching for something reasonably large, like an aircraft, that we realize that we're quite small in the scheme of things.

I think the second thing that we're learning is that the data from the original handshake analysis is not that precise. So we really are, you know, still dealing, even though we think we're in the right ocean, we are still dealing with vast bodies of water.

And thirdly, there's a lot of debris in the water, a lot of human pollution even that far out to sea.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And I think that has been a hugely eye-opening observation being made in this ongoing search, there can be so much material, satellites spot them, you know, planes, people in planes, crews, they are taking pictures of it and come to find out its junk, a lot being, you know, disposed of in our oceans.

So, is it your feeling or gut feeling, too, that perhaps this search, even though it is 128,000 square mile area, this might not be the right location?

MCCOLLUM: Well, this the thing. We really don't know. And until we find something that can clearly tagged back to the aircraft, we don't know. I have faith in the people that have been running the sort of retro navigation exercise with the handshake data. Obviously, that steered them down to this corner of the world. And you know, I trust in those people and their technical abilities. And at the moment, that's all we've got to go on.

WHITFIELD: And the use of this U.S. pinger that will on an Australian ship, we've heard many experts say you've got to be on top of an impact zone, on top of where this tail where the pinger and flight data recorder will be located in order for it to be used.

Is it your feeling that perhaps a secret of surveillance has picked up some sort of pinging and that's why this ping locator is being taken to that search area?

MCCOLLUM: I think that's wishful thinking. You know, I hope that's the case. I honestly do, but I don't believe it is.

You know, I think people are just frustrated by the fact that even though we fancy ourselves in the sort of such technologically advanced mammals, we can't do something as simple as find a large aircraft in an ocean. And that's very, very frustrating. But I have to agree that finding the pingers with the pinger locater would be, you know, you've got better chances of winning tonight's lottery.

WHITFIELD: And is this an experience kind of revealing that perhaps, we're not as advanced in technology as many of us thought we were?

MCCOLLUM: Well, I think a lot of us watch too many science fiction movies or get carried away blending Hollywood fiction with reality. The reality is that there is an awful lot of sea surface out there. And that is thousands of meters or many thousands of feet deep. And when you're searching in those locations, it's a lot harder than it sounds. We would like to fall back on technology to solve this for us, but unfortunately, it's not as easy as it looks.

WHITFIELD: Right.

All right, Rob McCollum. Thanks so much.

All right, crews looking for flight 370 are about to get some high- tech help. Find out what device is on board that ship that could prove critical in the search. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In a few hours an Australian ship out to sea carrying a tool that could prove invaluable in the search for flight 370. Here is Paula Newton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Ocean shield is at the ready and just hours away from sailing off to a search zone that so far has yielded no trace of flight 370. The Australian ship will be the linchpin of the investigation but only if and when air wreckage is found.

VICE ADMIRAL KAY GROGS, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY: This is a very challenging job. And the first real step here is to find some debris so we can back out an impact point for initial search area.

NEWTON: Being fitted on board, a U.S. Navy towed pinger locator that will try and isolate the signal from the cockpit and flight data recorders and Blue Fin 21, an underwater vehicle that will comb the ocean floor looking for wreckage.

No matter how specialized and sophisticated this equipment, it won't do any good unless the search zone will be narrowed.

COMMANDER MARK MATTHEWS, U.S. NAVY: We need better point of impact estimation than we have right now.

NEWTON: U.S. Navy commander Mark Matthews is leading the team that will deploy locator equipment. And it needs to become within about a mile of the pinger, just like the one he's holding.

MATTHEWS: I can search approximately 50 square miles a day. So really if we're searching for a beacon and we are living on borrowed time, I need something less than 1,000 square miles. NEWTON: Right now we're dealing with 100,000 square miles.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

NEWTON: As you said challenging.

MATTHEWS: It is a very low probability detection that is our search area.

NEWTON: And that's a sobering thought for the families of those missing.

As we board Ocean Shield, those working to deploy her are mindful that every minute count. The pinger signal will last a little more than a week and any wreckage has been dragged by wind and incurrence for weeks now.

Paula Newton, CNN, at Australian naval base.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk more about this. Our panel of experts back with me.

Captain Kit Darby, he is retired United Airlines pilot who flew for 30 years. He is also president of Kit Darby aviation consulting. And in Seattle, Rob McCollum back with me. He is an ocean search specialist and a professional expedition leader.

OK. So, gentlemen, as you just saw this great technology, cutting edge technology with this ship and with the U.S. pinger on board, there's a lot of hope.

Rob, the point can't be, you know, overstated that if you don't have the impact zone located, then, you know, some of that technology cannot be put to its best use. So what is the greatest hope from the ship once it arrives in the search zone area on Thursday?

MCCOLLUM: You know, there's not a lot of hope, I mean, as you heard the leader saying. You know, they have to be right on top of the wreckage, on top of the black box in order to hear it. The pingers designed to help circus locate the black box within the wreckage zone. If you have wreckage spread over a mile or two, it helps hone into the black box itself.

It was never designed to have the range to actually locate wreckage within a wider search area. So you would have to be right on top of it. And I'm afraid that even when we find the first debris from MH 370, that will be some hundreds of miles from the original impact point and it may take weeks or months to run those undulations all the way back to give us the underwater search area that we need.

WHITFIELD: Then Captain Darby, we have satellite, you know, imagery that shows what the weather has been like recently in the past 48 hours and how things might be looking. It has been relatively clear, this is consider to be a calmer kind of seas area where this latest search is taking place. But at the same time, you know, if the weather doesn't cooperate, if the conditions aren't right, you can't put this great technology to its best use.

KIT DARBY, RETIRED UNITED AIRLINES CAPTAIN: Yes. Winter is coming. So we're going to have not only our window on the pinger closed, but we are going to have our window on a calm enough sea to deploy this type of equipment. So it's going to be a difficult time and time is running out.

WHITFIELD: How critical do you believe this is? When you say time running out, talking in large part the battery life and less than a week when that ship gets into the area.

DARBY: A combination. Actually the search area gets bigger as time goes on, as things could mover for the debris. The battery runs out, he weather gets so bad you can't do whatever you want to do. I mean, it's not a good combination.

WHITFIELD: Right. And then, Rob, when we talk about back timing, if they were to at least find debris related to this plane, because thus far all of the objects that have seen or located seem to be trash or unrelated to the search. But if they at least come across real confirmed wreckage, it is an issue of back timing the drift, right, in order to try and locate this possible impact area.

MCCOLLUM: That's correct. Once you find some debris that's positively linked to the aircraft, then you can run a retro navigation exercise which will take you back upstream, upwind. You know, it is a mix of oceanography and mix of mathematics and a little bit of art.

WHITFIELD: And how long will that generally take, a matter of hours or days or weeks?

MCCOLLUM: Weeks. You can do a rough calculation in a couple of days. In order to keep refining that search area down, the more time, the more analysis you put into it, the better it gets. And if you look back to air France, you know, the aircraft was located, you know, a couple years after the pinger batteries were exhausted. Using these retro navigation techniques to get to a single point of impact, what you'll see in the next few days, you know, assuming that some debris is found is a phase shift, the timing shift from this urgency to find debris as fast as possible, you'll see a shift to wanting to not be so fast but very, very thorough and very, very precise.

WHITFIELD: So Captain, if we're talking about wreckage located after the life expectancy of this pinger, by using this sort of technology or technique, this retro navigation, that at least restores some hope that potentially an impact site can be located, that the wreckage could be located, even if it's a matter of not finding flight data recorder by way of its pinger.

DARBY: It's possible. I mean, this is a very large area. The complications, the variables he mentioned only come about if we find debris. So far we haven't found debris. So debris is the first step. Without that we are really fishing -- WHITFIELD: Do you feel like it has to happen at some point? Given what you said, certain items forever, it seems be, you know, floating items?

DARBY: We could be thousands of miles away from that location or thousands of miles with drift from the crash site. So, it's a very daunting task. I mean, I would love to be optimistic for you. But I got to tell you, I mean, I'm hopeful. But being optimistic is outside the realm. It has be probable. And right now, we don't have the probabilities to say we are going to find debris. And that's going to lead us a site any time soon.

WHITFIELD: And based on everything that transpired now as we entered week four, is it your feeling that this plane, a discovery will be made in a matter of months, or do you feel like we're years away and it's going to be happen stance that this wreckage is located?

DARBY: I've seen nothing imminent. I mean, like I said, I'm hopeful. But so far we have nothing.

WHITFIELD: All right. And Rob, to you quickly?

MCCOLLUM: You know, we need to find a stop point. Once we have a stop point, we can deploy underwater assets to start the underwater search. As the size of that search expands, so, too, would our underwater assets, the equipment used to conduct the search need to change from AUVs to more powerful equipment.

WHITFIELD: Rob McCallum, Kit Darby, thanks so much, gentlemen. Appreciate that.

All right, next, more on the investigation into the disappearance of flight 370. And the race to recover that flight data recorder and voice reporter by make means next.

OK. Let's talk the final four. It will be set later on tonight. Two teams got their ticket to Dallas last night.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: They are excited. Wisconsin beating Arizona by just one point in overtime. Just check out these massive badger crowds in Madison.

And in the first game Dayton put up a pretty good fight against Florida but it didn't have quite enough to continue the Cinderella run. The final score, a painful 62-52. And Michigan state and Connecticut are under way right now.

Later on today Michigan takes on Kentucky. The final four will kick off April 5th.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Search crews are following new leads today in the ongoing hunt for flight 370. Searchers spotted four orange objects in the southern Indian Ocean. And if these latest sights in the new Indian area pan out, it could help narrow the search for so-called black boxes, the data and voice recorders.

CNN aviation correspondent Rene Marsh joining us now from Washington with more on this.

So Rein, time is running out for those batteries on the recorders. If they are found, who will actually analyze these recorders and get the critical information from them?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, at this point it's unclear which countries would get these recorders. Malaysian authorities say essentially would make that decision. That said, the NTSB here in the United States is one of the most sophisticated labs. And about one-third of their work is for foreign government. So it's quite possible the NTSB could get those data recorders for analysis. How fast could they get a readout? Well, that could happen within 24 hours. Usually, that's the goal for investigators here in the U.S.

WHITFIELD: Now, we're talking about the Indian Ocean. Incredibly deep. How might the depth of that ocean kind of impact investigators ability to actually retrieve any kind of usable data from the recorders if indeed they could locate them.

MARSH: Right. I mean, it's extremely deep there, in some place it is more than 13,000 feet. But the good thing is, these data recorders, they can be survive being submerged in water up to 20,000 feet deep. So, it's very rare that investigators cannot retrieve useful data.

When they do, eventually pull recorders from saltwater, what they do is they place it in freshwater for the trip to the lab. At the lab, it is then flushed out with clean water to remove all the salt and silt and then they carefully dry it out.

At this point one of the deepest ocean recoveries known so far was air France flight 447. Those black boxes, they were all the way at the bottom of that water there off the coast of Brazil. And even after two years of being submerged in water, there was data from the black box, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, have they retrieved the data? How do they pull the information out?

MARSH: So in the case of NTSB, we know how they go about this. They have a team, usually of three people listening. Later sometimes that's expanded to about six or eight people. And the team is trying to come up to with a consensus essentially as to what is the wording of each transmission. So they are all listening to it. Sometimes it's not audible. But they are listening to every second of that to try and determine what's being said specifically on that cockpit voice recorder.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating. All right, Rene Marsh, thanks so much in Washington.

MARSH: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Grief, frustration and, of course, a lot of anger. You can actually see and feel all of that raw emotion today at a news conference held by the families of 239 people on board flight 370. Hear their new demands next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Looking at the Grace of these jumps and turns, you probably never guessed 22-year-old figure skater Max Aaron started skating on a different kind of ice. He started as a toddler and fell in love with ice hockey the first time he picked up a stick. He was started figure skating with his sisters during the off season to help his game. Soon, he was starting his days in figure skates and ending them in hockey skates. By 2007, he was well on his way to fulfilling his dream. He was on the Elite U.S. hockey development team. But in 2008 he had a major setback.

MAX AARON, 2013 U.S. FIGURE SKATING CHAMPION: My back was constantly bothering me. We were lifting weights and my back all of a sudden just seized up.

GUPTA: His back was broken. He had to come back slowly and wear just one pair of skates.

AARON: So I decided I'll figure skate.

GUPTA: The medals started adding up, including a bronze 2010 junior nationals. A gold from 2011 junior nationals and a gold in the 2013 nationals. He was the U.S. men's first alternate for the Sochi Olympics. And now, he's skating for a world title in Japan.

AARON: I was talking to doctors and they said, you know, it's good you caught it when you did. You could be paralyzed. I don't take that for granted.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Some of the families of those on flight 370 are fed up with the way Malaysia has handled things. And they let government officials know that during an emotional news conference today.

Our Paula Hancocks is in Kuala Lumpur.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was an impatient press conference in this Kuala Lumpur hotel. The Chinese relatives of the passengers of MH 370 had only arrived here just hours earlier at the airport this Sunday morning. They said that they said they had to come to Malaysia, because they just simply were not getting answer they wanted from Beijing.

They were wearing t-shirts that read pray for MH 370, return home safely. And about a dozen men were chanting, we want evidence. We want the truth. We want our family. Saying that they are sad and desperate.

(INAUDIBLE) said, we want Malaysia to apologize for the information that caused confusion in the first week which delayed search mission and we want Malaysian government to apologize for irresponsibly in acting March 24th that the plane has crashed.

That the families also saying they don't just want to meet with the acting transportation minister, with Malaysian authorities, with the airline. They also want to meet with technical staff from Boeing and anyone else affiliated with this aircraft saying no one from the companies has approached them. Does that mean they have something to hide.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's get back now to our analyst, Kit Darby is with me here and Rob McCallum in Seattle.

So clearly, families are in anguish waiting for news from this search. One has to wondered if the relationship with the families had been or should they have been handled any differently.

Captain, do you first, it would seem and I'm not going to apologies for the Malaysian government but seems if they don't have information, if they don't know where it is, they don't know what happened, can they be providing to the families they are not saying already to the public and reporters?

DARBY: Well, they can't give them information they don't have. I understand that. But from a captain's perspective, just like a plane full of disgruntled passengers. You really need to talk them on a regular basis. And if don't have anything new, you have to tell them, you don't have anything new. But it's important to have that regular contact, reassurance that you are top of their thoughts. And to if there's no information, you can't make things up, you simply have to relay the situation as it stands.

WHITFIELD: And Rob, clearly, I think everyone can understand, emphasize how painful it is for loved ones of anyone who is on board this flight. We even heard from an interview earlier last week from one of the loved ones who said she stopped watching the news because it's just too tormenting. I mean, you can't blame them, can you?

MCCOLLUM: No. I mean, it's a very, very difficult time. And in the absence of any tangible proof, you know, makes it even worse. You know, in the case of Air France, that even though it was clear what happened to the aircraft, two years after the event when it was located and black boxes recovered, the sense of closure from the relatives of those that were lost was palpable. It was quite something to see.

WHITFIELD: And so, you know, Captain Darby, I wonder, you know, there's something to be learned from every experience. We're hearing the reference of air France, you know, the locating of wreckage, and lessons learned from satellite imagery, et cetera.

But as it refers to lessons learned, perhaps, even though this is ongoing, how to deal with this family members, how much to share, how much not to say. What kind of lessons do you see should be extrapolated here for that next calamity, potential calamity.

DARBY: Well, it is particularly tough here. We have cultural differences, language differences, I mean, there is all types of misinterpretation. We have a relatively small country that hasn't had to deal with this before. Perhaps an international advice, you know, could be certainly, we've had many accidents here in the U.S., we have learned from them. We have a great contact system in a regular information system. Some of those qualities could be perhaps embodied into an international group that could share those resources with a smaller, less equipped country.

WHITFIELD: And Rob, you know, we talk about the cultural differences too, that may be at the root of some of the anguish here, in particular a lot of these Chinese nationals, the majority of whom were on the plane, the family members saying they weren't trusting Malaysian authorities. At the same time, they have very little confidence in their own government as it pertains to disseminating information. A real lack of trust that is kind of embedded culturally.

MCCOLLUM: Yes. You know, perhaps that's an (INAUDIBLE) factor. I mean, you know, I think it's important to remember that this is a case that has never -- the likes have never been seen before. Any government, Malaysian or otherwise, would really have struggled to ramp up and deal with this because there's no precedent. And you know, I think it's worth noting at the moment that, you know, mistakes have been made, lessons have being learned. But we're on a long pathway here. This is going to continue on far a very long time. Not only if we still have to find the first piece of debris, we have to run the retro navigation exercise and then have to deploy underwater assets to locate the rig. We could be in for a very long hall, indeed.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rob McCallum, Captain Kit Darby, thanks so much, to both you gentlemen.

DARBY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to return to continuing coverage.

Meantime, the first woman to oversee GM. She is headed to Congress to answer questions about a recall for a deadly problem. Will this upcoming moment define her legacy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: In joust about three hours from now, planes searching for flight 370 will return to the sky to following new and potentially significant lead. Here is what we know right now.

Four orange objects about six feet long have been spotted today in the southern Indian Ocean. Officials are calling it the most promising development so far. Ships are on the way to the area to investigate.

And officials say several other objects picked up by ships yesterday are actually fishing equipment and trash. Time is a critical factor for the crews. There's only about one week of battery life left on the flight recorder pingers. And because of that looming deadline an Australian ship carrying a U.S. pinger locator, and undersea search equipment will leave for the search zone in a few hours and expected to arrive by Thursday.

Australia's prime minister says it doesn't matter how long it takes or how much it costs, they will keep searching.

Our coverage of the flight 370 will continue.

But first, we've got other new developments on an important story for millions who drive GM cars and we want to bring to you right now.

General Motors chief executive Mary Barra will testify on Tuesday before U.S. Congress about the automaker's faulty ignition switch recall. That recall covers 2.2 million vehicles in the U.S. and linked to 12 death.

CNN money chief business correspondent Christine Romans on what's next for GM and how her upcoming testimony could be a game changer for the new CEO.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The honeymoon is over. Less than three months ago Mary Barra became the first woman to lead am American automaker. Now, she is headed to Capitol Hill for her first big test as CEO. Tough questions about the recall because of problems with the ignition system, those problems linked to at least 12 fatalities. PR experts say so far Barra has owned it.

GEORGE COOK: She's done every possible thing they could do in terms to taking very aggressive pro-active actions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So far so good. She has attack the problem. She has been candid.

ROMANS: Barra has launch internal investigation. She wrote a letter to employees saying we will hold ourselves accountable. There was a video apology, a press conference, a Web site, and call center and new executive in charge of safety.

For Mary Barra, the stakes are high. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the most important appearance so far in her CEO hood. And how she handles this tragedy is going to tell an awful lot about her legacy and her reputation.

ROMANS: That it could turn into a plus.

COOK: If she delivers, there is no doubt positive things will take place including minimizing potential recalls, increasing customer satisfaction, increased sales, increased revenue.

ROMANS: BUT In the auto industry perception is key. GM is touting photo contest winners online. But scroll down just a little and you'll see this, customers still outraged about the recall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it goes into the longer term scenario, it probably will hurt the brand.

ROMANS: A lot will depend whether GM accepts liability. Technically, the auto lawmaker isn't responsible for accidents before it went bankrupt in 2009. Some experts say that what GM has to do and what GM should do are two different things.

COOK: I think if GM really wants to put the right foot forward, they need to accept total responsibility, whether it was old GM, new GM, it's still GM on the building downtown Detroit.

ROMANS: Civil lawsuits have been filed. And GM is facing a federal criminal probe. Rival Toyota faces similar investigation after its huge recall four years ago. But it reached a deal with the justice department and agreed to pay $1.2 billion. In GM's case it hasn't said yet if it will accepts liability.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lawyers will be pressing her not to be as equitable as General Motors could be would be settlements. She has got to push back.

ROMANS: For Barra, this test could define her legacy less than 100 days into her tenure as CEO.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And of course, you want to seat with CNN this week as this important story unfolds.

All right, next, after two earthquakes in less than 24 hours, is southern California ready for the big one?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Here are five things crossing CNN news desk right now.

U.S. secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov are still meeting in Paris. That meeting is happening behind closed doors. The two were discussing a resolution to the crisis in Ukraine and things are getting tense along that country's eastern border. Russia has reportedly amassed about 40,000 troops in that area.

And tomorrow in this country is the deadline to sign up for Obamacare or face a penalty for not having health coverage. The White House says it's already seeing a surge of last minute signups. Anyone who starts the application by tomorrow but can't finish it because of perhaps technical problems will get more time. Paper applications are due April 7th.

And same-sex couples in England and Wales now have the legal right to be married. The church of England had objected, but now says it will no longer campaign against the issue. The legislation was approved last July. The law went in effect midnight Friday.

And the royal family, ever so picturesque, has released this new brand-new photo of Prince George. So cute. The little guy is already 8-month-old. This is at their Kensington palace home. The family is planning to go to New Zealand in Australia next week and bring the baby along. No word whether the dog will. And no word on whether there are any public appearances of them while they are traveling. Very cute.

All right, the movie "Noah" swept the box office this weekend raking in an estimated $44 million. The biblical story is still getting mixed reviews for acting and accuracy. Divergent got bumped to second place at the box office followed by Muppets movie.

And this weekend, Disney's "Frozen" became the highest grossing animated film of all times with more than a billion dollars worldwide. It is extraordinary.

All right, people in southern California dealt with two sizable earthquakes this weekend. But the dozens of aftershocks just keep on coming. Check out this map from "the L.A. Times" showing all of them. Experts say they can't fully predict what happens next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't predict in the sense of identifying when, where and how large quakes are in particular, we simply don't have the science to do that. We can tell you that typically, you get a quake like this which is shallow in the process as all of the California quakes are. When you get a quake like that, we expect an aftershock series just as exactly what we are seeing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All Stephanie Elam is now joining me from Los Angeles.

And Stephanie, you were raised in California. How does this compared to other earthquake, perhaps, you have experienced? How nervous are you about the next thing? STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I will put it this way, Fred. This one was not that scary for me. But when you are near an earthquake, and it impacts here the way you live, then is it super scary.

Now, the worst one for me was October 17th '89, that was the (INAUDIBLE) earthquake which a lot of people remember because that was the world series was being played between the Ace and the giants, that was super scary. It left a crack in the street outside my house.

This one, we are talking about a 5.1, that we fell an aftershock was 4.4. Much smaller earthquake, but for the people that live near the epicenter, you saw some of that damage there, it is very scary for those people. And then since then, we've had like 100 or so aftershocks. Most of them super tiny like in the 1.0 range, 1.2, maybe a 2.2 or so, much smaller. And they that they will continue to decrease these smaller aftershock. But as you can see, it was enough to do sort of jolt these shelves and do a lot damage and got a couple of dozen people have been removed from their homes, Fred.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. And so, you know, Stephanie, how does one prepare, you know, for the unknown? Is it a matter of, you know, making sure you have the proper kind of earthquake insurance because they really are no other warnings? I mean, what are the things that I guess are provoking people to do right now especially with this kind of weekend reminder?

ELAM: I hope people are doing something about it, Fred. Because we have had sort of complacency here about earthquakes. When you talk to the pos, they said it is not a matter of if, they say when, yet in the time that I have been on California now which is this going on like two years or so, I can tell you that a lot of people are just nor ready.

And we have disasters all over the country. So everyone should be prepared. But you are talking about making sure you are having water. Being prepared they say for at least three days. But honestly, if you look at some of these major disasters, these people are living for seven days or so without that normal comfort of living that you would have.

So you want to have water. Some medicines that you need and we want to make sure you have those provisions for your animals as well. And there a whole bunch of information out there. but I hope that this swarm of earthquakes which may have been small for most people. But as you can see, for some of these people very scary, that they start to think about what they need to do, get together a family plan, Figure out where you will meet, in case something like this happens. Well, this is something everyone can do wherever you live. We all have natural disasters, just get ready, right?

WHITFIELD: That's true. And those are good, you know, plans for protection. But as it pertains to kind of protecting your assets too because your life, of course, but you know, your property, do people typically have earthquake insurance or do most people in the Southern California area, really all the California when you are susceptible to earth quake activity have the kind of disrupting of the home and all that sox steps is that typical or is that something -- ?

ELAM: No, there is the California earthquake authority and there is also insurance. And a lot of places require you to have it when you rent your place and get your home. It is something that you do have it when you rent a place, when you get your home, you have to look into that as well. It is something that you have to live it because it is part of life in southern California.

So yes, it is put there. And yes, you can prepare for it and protect your assets. You should definitely do that. The problem is a lot of people, like I said, are complacent. The last time we had a big earthquake on Southern California was '94 with the Northridge earthquakes.

So, there is beneficed adult who grew up in Southern California who haven't felt a good shaker. And that is part of the reason why people have become a little, you know, lax about this.

WHITFIELD: Right. Ok, we appreciate your reminder. Thank you so much, Stephanie. Appreciate it.

All right, now to Washington and the scene of that devastating landslide. I'm talking about Washington state. Searchers still struggling against a mountain of mud there hoping for some sort of miracle. And so far, as far as we know, at least 18 known dead, a number of missing and unaccounted for has dropped from 90 to now 30. Still a significant number.

And at times, heavy equipment gives way to digging by hand. It is just a huge event there. And now, a new danger. More flooding on the way because of so much rain.

Our Dan Simon is in Arlington, Washington.

It is hard to believe now, Dan. It has been more than a week. How are people holding up there?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is tough, you know, especially when you throw in the rain like we see over the past 48 hours. It really hasn't let up much. And when you go through the debris field, there are paddles of water. And crews are literally having to pump out the water so they can continue to search for victims.

As you said, Fredricka, authorities, you know, they really have been working around the clock to try and pin down who is actually missing and who may have died in the landslide. As a result of those efforts, they have been able to narrow down the list significantly in terms of who is missing. At one point, it was 90, now it is 30. You also said that is a lot of people. And it really is. So crews are in that debris field right now trying to find victims.

In some cases, Fredricka, and this really tells you, the grim nature of it all. They are only finding body parts. And that tells you, one, this was an incredible force and number two, it is going to make identifying those bodies very difficult for the medical examiner -- Fred. WHITFIELD: On my God, very so sovereign. All right, thank you so much, Dan Simon. Appreciate that.

All right, that is going to do it for me. Thanks so much you for being with me this afternoon. I'm Fredricka Whitefield. The next hour with the CNN NEWSROOM with Jim Sciutto begins after a short break with the latest on the search for flight 370.

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