Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
U.N. Condemns Violence Against Myanmar Protesters; Food And Fuel Shortages Worsen Widespread Famine; Brazil's Daily Death Toll Tops 2,000 For The First Time; Marking 10-Year Anniversary Of Japan Tsunami; Meghan Markle Complained To ITV About Piers Morgan's Comments; Republican-Leaning West Virginia County Welcoming Biden's COVID Relief Bill. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired March 11, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the entirely preventable humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Hundreds of thousands of children at immediate risk of starving to death. A CNN investigation reveals the reason behind a country wide famine.
How Russia and China use their leverage at the U.N. Security Council to protect Myanmar's generals from condemnation.
10 years after the wave, Japan stops to remember thousands of lives lost in a mega disaster which caused destruction on an unprecedented scale.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VAUSE: The U.N. Security Council has called for a reversal of Myanmar's coup, condemned the escalating violence against pro- democracy protesters and urged the military to use utmost restraint.
The condemnation came in the form of a presidential statement, one step below a resolution and was watered down by Russia and China and others. The original draft condemned the military coup, threatened future action if the violence continues to escalate.
Nonetheless, it was the strongest statement yet from the United Nations. Meantime, Amnesty International has accused Myanmar security forces of using battlefield weapons and tactics on unarmed civilian protesters.
The allegations are based on analysis of more than 50 videos recorded by members of the public and local media. More details now on the situation inside Myanmar from Ivan Watson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She called herself Angel, only 19 years old, Angel -- real name Ma Kyel Zin, was a small but fierce presence of protest against the military coup that swept Myanmar's elected government from power on February 1st.
She challenged the security forces but Angel's defiance came to a sudden end when she was shot dead during a protest in the city of Mandalay on March 3rd. The young woman in the "Everything will be OK" T-shirt became a symbol of Myanmar's deadly fight for democracy. Before the coup, Angel behaved like many other teenagers, making TikTok videos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): She liked to live freely. She was a good-hearted girl.
WATSON (voice-over): Angel's friend, Ming Ta Bu, hides his face for safety.
You can see him here, ducking for cover by her side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): She was ready to risk her life way before that day.
WATSON (voice-over): Several days earlier, Angel posted this message on Facebook offering to donate her blood and organs to anyone who might need them. Using activist videos and eyewitness accounts, CNN reconstructed Angel's final moments around noon on March 3rd as demonstrators faced off against security forces.
Angel cheered on the protesters, chanting, "We won't run."
[00:05:00]
WATSON (voice-over): Around 12:30, activist videos show Angel and the other protesters retreating amid the sound of gunshots. This was the moment, activists say, she was hit.
They raced her on a motorcycle to a makeshift clinic when this doctor, who doesn't want to be identified, pronounced her dead on arrival.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The primary cause of death was a brain injury caused by a gunshot wound.
WATSON (voice-over): The doctor gave us the x-ray, showing the bullet that killed Angel. Scores of people attended her funeral but, only hours later, Myanmar police dug up Angel's body to conduct an autopsy, they said.
The next morning, bystanders found shovels, a bloody glove and razors, which police apparently left behind at the grave. Police claim the bullet that killed Angel is different from the kind of riot control bullets their officers used. Police insist they used minimum force to disperse the protesters on March 3rd.
It's unknown who fired the bullet that killed Angel. But an activist video shows a soldier. firing what appears to be an assault rifle at the protesters. This was filmed moments after Angel's shooting on the same street where she was fatally wounded.
The United Nations estimates scores of people have been killed in Myanmar in recent works. A top U.N. official lays the blame squarely on the security forces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we're seeing orders that police and military soldiers shoot people down in cold blood.
WATSON (voice-over): Supporters have rebuilt Angel's desecrated grave. Friends are now calling her a martyr for democracy -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Ivan Watson is live for us this hour in Hong Kong.
Allegations by Amnesty International built the case the military has no real desire for full containment of these demonstrations but rather to inflict maximum harm.
WATSON: Yes, Amnesty International saying it's analyzed more than 50 videos they say they verified and they're coming to the conclusion that they think that this is a strategy, to use lethal force against the demonstrators in some situations, amounting to extrajudicial killings.
It is also interesting that on the part of the military regime, we have heard some kind of half denial saying, hey, our police don't use lethal force. But the fact is, there is an incredible amount of documentary evidence now that the police are going out with military units, combat troops.
And they may be saying that the police aren't killing people but we're not hearing any denials about soldiers potentially or allegedly killing people. And we see that in this report, that it's an army soldier firing what looks like an assault rifle down the street at protesters moments after that young woman received her fatal wound.
VAUSE: Ivan, thank you. Ivan Watson for us live there in Hong Kong.
Well right now in Yemen 400,000 children are facing death by starvation. The innocent victims of a 6-year-long proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a brutal conflict which the head of the U.N. food agency says has made Yemen the worst place on Earth.
The White House recently announced an end to providing intelligence, refueling and logistical assistance for the Saudi-led coalition and its military offensive on Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. U.S. support for the kingdom began with the start of the war under President Obama and escalated dramatically under president Trump.
A CNN investigation has documented not just the extent of this humanitarian crisis but also some of the reasons behind it. For more than 2 months, the Saudis have bought into Yemen's biggest port of data which is under Houthi control, tankers carrying fuel needed for generators and distancing fuel, medicine and other supplies have been unable to dock.
And at this moment, 14 tankers are scheduled to make port and unload but all of them are being held off the Saudi coast according to a vessel tracking. App
Under international law, a maritime blockade which causes severe humanitarian distress is illegal. CNN's Nima Elbagir and Barbara Abantigues and Alex Pratt take us directly into Houthi territory in northern Yemen. And a warning, some of the images you're about to see are difficult to watch, some of the details are difficult to hear.
[00:10:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The derelict coastline of the north of Yemen, rusting hulks tell a story of war, blockade and devastation.
For years now, the Houthi controlled north has been increasingly isolated from the outside world. We secondly traveled through the night by boat after our previous reporting here led the government to deny us entry.
On the road to Hodeidah port, we get a sense of the humanitarian disaster kept from the outside world. Along the roadside, hundreds of stalled food supply trucks with no fuel to move in a country in the grip of hunger, their cargo stands spoiling in the hot sun.
The port of Hodeidah is the supply gateway for the rest of the country. It should be bustling with activity but today it is eerily empty. A result of the U.S.-backed Saudi blockade, the last tanker to dock here was in December.
In the ongoing silence, it dawns on us: we are about to witness the terrible impact of this blockade. Desperate patients and family members trying to get the attention of the chairman of Hodeidah's hospital. If he signs these papers, they get some financial relief for their treatments and medicines. He doesn't get far before he is stopped again and again.
Since the Yemen war started six years, families have been in financial freefall. The fuel blockade has sped that descent into oblivion. This is the main hospital for Hodeidah province and we're surrounded by doctors and nurses rushed off their feet.
ELBAGIR: Is this a normal day?
Is it this busy all the time?
This is not a busy day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, this is a normal day.
ELBAGIR: Wow.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): Dr. Khaled wants to show us some of his critical patients in the therapeutic feeding center. A 10 year old girl whose growth has been so stunted by starvation, she can no longer speak.
ELBAGIR: Dr. Khaled says every hour of every day, they are receiving more and more cases of severe malnutrition that are this advanced, because the parents can't afford to feed their children. They also can't afford to bring them to the hospital for treatment.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): The U.N. says, pockets of Yemen are in famine like conditions. But it says Hodeidah is not considered one of them because it doesn't meet the metrics to declare famine. But the doctor thinks the reality on the ground has outpaced the U.N.'s projections.
The Saudi field blockade is biting. Malnutrition numbers are spiking and at the same time, this busy hospital is running out of the vital fuel that keeps its generators running, which means that babies like Melian (ph), who doctors say at 2 months weighs the same as a newborn, would die.
Yemen has been devastated by civil war, which has pitted the Iranian backed Ansalala, known as Houthis, against the internationally recognized government. And a U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition, where in Houthi territory some of whose officials have been designated as terrorists by the U.S., for targeting neighboring Saudi Arabia.
We've been granted a rare interview with a leading Houthi official. We must meet in an undisclosed location, because, his aides say, of the threat of assassination. We ask him to respond to allegations they are escalating this war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Not true at all, that this is continuing, it has not stopped.
ELBAGIR: Do you trust America to take forward negotiations to bring peace here in Yemen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Trust must come about decisions. So far we have not seen any concrete decisions being made.
ELBAGIR: You've spoken about being subjected as a nation to international terror, but three of the leaders within the ansaladin movement are designated by the U.S. as terrorists. One of your key slogans talks about death to America.
How do you see this as pushing forward the negotiation and the possibility for peace in the future?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When we say death to America, they effectively kill us with their bombs, rockets and blockades. They provide logistics and intelligence support and their actual participation in the battle.
So who is bigger and greater?
The ones who are killing us or the ones who say death to them?
ELBAGIR (voice-over): The Biden administration has announced it has withdrawn support for the Saudi offensive. But it comes after 6 long years of war and for the children dying of hunger it's still hasn't brought peace any quicker. Peace and help can't come soon enough.
ELBAGIR: Over half the hospitals in this district are threatened with shutters (ph). This is one of the many urgent support, urgent help.
Can you imagine what it would do to this community if this facility was shut down?
Look at the chaos that there is already here and that's while it's functioning.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): For years, now the U.N. has been warning that famine is coming to Yemen.
[00:15:00]
ELBAGIR (voice-over): Doctors across Yemen's north, tell us famine has arrived. Another hospital witnessing wave after wave of children in the red zone, severe malnourishment, impoverished mothers, desperate to keep their children alive, are forced to make harrowing choices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Just to get to the hospital, I stopped eating and drinking, not even water, just to get him treated.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): These doctors are keeping track of the numbers spiking beyond what they ever imagined.
ELBAGIR: The doctor saying, in 2020, this population 23 percent of the children under 5, were severely malnourished. In 2021, they think that the number is going to go over 30 percent. There is no doubt in his mind, he says, that they, here in Hodeidah, are in famine.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): Nearly 3 years ago, the U.N. condemned the use of starvation as a method of warfare, demanding access to supplies that are necessary for food preparation, including water and fuel, be kept intact. Here and in other conflicts, that clearly hasn't happened.
What's more, the world has stopped caring. The U.N. needs almost $4 billion to stanch this crisis. They received less than half that from donors. Numbers don't lie. But numbers also don't reflect the full tragedy.
This young boy, 10 months and struggling to breathe, he came into the hospital 6 days ago, he keeps losing weight even with the critical care he's receiving. Hours after we left, the child died. One more child in Yemen that represents so much more pain.
The doctors here are desperate for the world to see and to help -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, Hodeidah, Yemen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN has reached out Saudi Arabia for comment but we've not yet received a reply.
Mark Lowcock is the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, thank you for being with us. One of your colleagues, the head of the U.N.'s food agency, David Beasley, recently traveled to Yemen. And in his assessment, it's hell. Here's a little more from his trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BEASLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WFP: I'm standing, in his hospital room, where this child is literally on the verge of death because they don't have food, they don't have the equipment, medically and otherwise, to take care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Given the Saudis control the coast and for most the most part nothing goes in nothing goes out without their approval, that includes humanitarian aid, how can this be anything other than a premeditated plan intended to starve hundreds of thousands of people?
MARK LOWCOCK, U.N. UNDERSECRETARY GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: It's very important that aid supplies are allowed in and we need two things really. We need money to bring food and medicines in, then we need the access. All the participants in this war are obliged under law to let us in so they have to do that.
VAUSE: There are no innocent parties here, the Houthis have done their fair share of damage and harm to the civilian population as well.
LOWCOCK: This war has gone on far too long. We now have, because of the new posture of the Biden administration, the best chance for 5 years to fix it. It's up to the Yemenis to decide whether they'll take the chance or not. If they, don't millions of children will continue to starve and many will lose their lives.
VAUSE: Yes, the Houthis, we just heard in Nima's report, have denied escalating the war. But the reality is, there has been a surge of violence since the Biden administration revoked the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization.
It's a situation that, under the Trump administration, the Saudis had pretty much a free hand; under the Biden menstruation, they've done the same thing to the Houthis.
LOWCOCK: The reversal of the terrorist designation was essential in order to avoid the loss of millions of children's lives because no food or other supplies would have gotten in while that designation was there.
But it doesn't on its own solve the problem. The Yemeni parties need to stop fighting and to that aid in and have a chance to rebuild their country. So the Biden policy is the best policy change we've seen for years. Whether works to fix the problem is now up to the Yemeni parties.
VAUSE: Very quickly, what's the timeframe here?
How soon does aid need to arrive to avoid the worst?
LOWCOCK: Starving children are dying every day and there is not a moment to lose. We need more money and we need to ease the blockade. And the men with guns bombs need to stop and focus on the future of the innocent people of their country, especially women and children.
VAUSE: Mark, thank you. We are out of time. We have a lot more questions to get to and I'm hoping you can join us next hour, thanks for being with us.
[00:20:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VAUSE: Brazil's daily pandemic death toll has topped 2,000 for the first time. The virus continues to spread almost unchecked and, with that, hospital admissions are also rising. ICU wards are 80 percent or higher capacity in 22 of 26 states. Occupancy exceeds 98 percent in three of those states, with Rio Grande de Sol maxed out.
Brazil's former president is blaming the current leader for all the problems. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says Jair Bolsonaro has failed to deal with the pandemic and Lula says Bolsonaro can just be ignored.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Many of these deaths could've been avoided if there were a government who did their job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Matt Rivers has more now on the crisis gripping Brazil.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Despite being widely expected to run for the Brazilian presidency in 2022, former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva chose not to take an opportunity during a press conference on Wednesday in Brazil to announce his candidacy.
Instead, the former president said that it was still early to do so, too early to talk about candidates for 2022. It was just this week that Lula, as he is commonly known in Brazil, had money laundering and corruption charges that he was charged with back in 2017, overruled by a federal judge in Brazil.
That's allowing him to potentially run in the Brazilian presidential race in 2022. However, he did not let an opportunity pass to criticize his might-be opponents in 2022, that's, of course, a current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. Lula talked about Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic and said that
his handling of the pandemic has been terrible and that, as a result of that, lives have been lost in Brazil that wouldn't have been lost otherwise.
We also know that Bolsonaro is a vaccine skeptic at times. He has talked and questioned the efficacy vaccines. Lula talked about that as well. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LULA (through translator): I want to speak to the Brazilian people. Do not follow any stupid decision by the president and the minister of health. Get vaccinated. I am 75 years old and, next week, God willing, I am going to get my vaccine. I don't care what country it is from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS (voice-over): And Lula's criticism of Bolsonaro comes at a time when the pandemic in Brazil is arguably at its worst point since it all began in 22 of Brazil's 26 states, as well as in its federal district. ICU occupancy rates are at 80 percent or above --Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The coronavirus variant which was first found in the U.K. appears to be much more deadly than previous strains. A new study finds that those infected with the B117 variant were 64 percent more likely to die compared to those infected with other variants.
It also appears to be more contagious but vaccines have proved to be effective against it, with calls for a faster rollout of those vaccines.
Still to come, the U.S. says it will not make concessions to Iran just to restart nuclear talks. So what will it take to settle the 2015 nuclear deal? The U.S. state secretary gives us his take.
Also, China's ceremonial legislature is set to make some changes to Hong Kong's election laws. Details ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:25:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VAUSE: The Biden administration is taking a hard line with Tehran, saying there will be no sanctions relief until Iran is back in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. Secretary of state Antony Blinken said that there will be no concessions to Tehran, just a return to the negotiating table.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BRAD SHERMAN (D-CA): We're not in compliance with the JCPOA. Iran is not in compliance with the JCPOA. The Iranian position is that we should make concessions to them just to get a meeting. It's my understanding that our position is that we should come into compliance only as they or after they come into compliance with the nuclear safeguards.
Can you assure us that we're not going to make concessions just to get a meeting?
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I can.
SHERMAN: That's a very good answer. And
do we expect that before we give them sanctions relief, that they will verifiably either be in full compliance with the JCPOA or be on a negotiated path towards full compliance?
BLINKEN: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Blinken said the U.S. is willing to hold talks with Iran about possibly breaking the deal. They're scaling back its commitment after former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.
The first title of talks between Chinese and U.S. officials in the Biden administration set for next week. Blinken will meet with his Beijing counterpart, Wang Yi, in Alaska. Talks are expected to focus on China's rollback in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang and pressure on Taiwan and economic practices.
The Biden administration also planning to review Trump's policies towards China.
China's National Peoples Congress is hours away from voting on changes to Hong Kong's electoral system. That's raising concerns that any opposition in the city will be completely silenced. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is in Hong Kong with an update on all of this.
So clearly this is where it's been heading for quite some time, so will be no surprise when this measure is passed.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: No surprise, it will be rubberstamped shortly. But China's paving the way to make sure that only patriots will run Hong Kong and the National People's Congress today a resolution will be passed, that will effectively reduce democratic representation in Hong Kong while vetting and screening candidates for patriotism under this new electoral reform plan.
We know that the usually pro Beijing election committee will be enlarged and they will not only select the chief executive of Hong Kong but it will also be able to select members of the legislature. Pro-democracy activists say that this is a huge step backwards for the
democracy in his territory and a quote for you from Lee Cheuk-yan, a veteran pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong.
And his response is this, quote, it is the total regression and it's the total betrayal of the basic law promise of gradual improvement toward democracy and therefore it is a backward development.
Now this comes at a time of increasing Chinese control of the territory. It was at the National People's Congress last year when they passed the national security legislation. Weeks later, it was opposed on the territory criminalizing secession, subversion, terrorism, colluding with foreign forces, making the crimes punishable with up to life in prison.
Recently 47 pro-democracy activists have been charged with subversion, a very serious crime under the national security law. And recently in the last couple of days, I talked to the deputy commissioner of China's ministry of foreign affairs here in Hong Kong.
I asked him about the law and he said it improves the electoral system in Hong Kong. It will strengthen Hong Kong's standing as an international financial hub. He also had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SONG RU'AN, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Hong Kong is a part of China and its electoral system is a part of China's local electoral systems. It is solely China's internal affair as to how to design, develop and improve the system. And no external force shall interfere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: After the deputy commissioner here in Hong Kong delivered those prepared remarks in English, I asked him a question.
What is a patriot?
His response was anyone who loves Hong Kong and not the country is not a patriot -- John.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you, live for us in Hong Kong.
Still to come, we're marking a pair of anniversaries. It's been 10 years since Japan was hit by a devastating tsunami and a nuclear meltdown.
[00:30:08]
But for many, a decade on, and the pain is still very fresh.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Only 10 years ago, the terrifying scene there when the biggest earthquake in Japan's history triggered a catastrophic tsunami that swept through parts of the country, setting off a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant. Parts of that area are still unhabitable to this day.
Memorial services are underway in Tokyo, honoring some 20,000 victims of this disaster. It's the first of many events planned across the country.
CNN's Blake Essig is following this live for us from Tokyo. And, you know, life in the pandemic. They had to scale down some of these more memorials because of the virus.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot less people will be attending these memorials all over the country. Here in Tokyo, one of the largest of those memorials. Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Suga, as well as victims, will deliver speeches, as well as a moment of silence in about 15 minutes from now, 2:46 p.m., the moment that the earthquake hit 10 years ago, exactly.
Now, today is a day of mourning in Japan. And there's a tendency to look at these anniversaries as a point of completion, when it comes to the recovery. Ten years, you know, thinking that, OK, when it comes to infrastructure, roads, public spaces, buildings, homes. Yes, Japan has done a great job rebuilding all of that type of stuff.
But when you look at the survivors, when you talk to them. 10 years is a very, very short time. In a lot of these people, when you talk about the emotional scars, they're going to be dealing with the recovery effort for a lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ESSIG (voice-over): At 65 years old, Shigeko and Kenji Kobayashi (ph) spend most of their day in the garden. A peaceful and beautiful space surrounded by life.
SHIGEKO KOBAYASHI, FORMER FUTABA RESIDENT (through translator): I wake up in the morning and have to remove weeds, cut them and water them. I can spend my whole day like that.
ESSIG: For the Kobayashis, gardening offers a chance to heal after surviving one of the worst natural disasters that world has ever seen.
In 2011, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off Japan's northeast coast triggered a tsunami with waves reaching nearly 40 meters in some spots.
About 22,000 people died or are still missing. It crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. The damage has been estimated 300 billion dollars and left hundreds of thousands of people without a home.
[00:35:07]
KOBAYASHI (through translator): I kept wondering why on earth things have become like this.
ESSIG: That includes the Kobayashis, who were living in Futaba, just a few kilometers from the nuclear plant. KOBAYASHI: My husband was involved in designing the nuclear plant, so
when there was an explosion, he thought, this is bad and knew that we cannot go back for a long time.
ESSIG (on camera): About 1,400 Futaba residents, nearly a fifth of the entire town's population, were evacuated to this former high school in Kazo City, Saitama.
Now, they spent roughly three years living in a classroom just like this, nearly 200 kilometers away from Fukushima prefecture in the homes that they were forced to evacuate.
(voice-over): This monument, inscribed with the word "hope," forever marks the evacuation site.
The experience for Kenichi Kurosawa, who still lives in Ishinomaki, was very different. Unlike residents in Futaba affected by the nuclear disaster, Kurosawa almost died when a three-meter wall of water nearly swept him away. He showed CNN how he survived.
KENICHI KUROSAWA, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): I remember seeing people who had climbed up trees like me being swept away. There were people in cars gripping the steering wheel being swept away.
ESSIG: Kurosawa says he lost everything that day except for his life. A decade later, the struggle to rebuild continues.
KUROSAWA (through translator): It's like my old self died, and I tried to restore it, but it's not possible. I do feel like I'm living a totally different life.
ESSIG: Loss that Liz Maly, an expert in post-disaster and community recovery, says can't be quantified.
LIZ MALY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, TOHUKU UNIVERSITY: This disaster is not over, after the 10-year anniversary and that this area, these communities and these people still need support, investment and attention.
ESSIG: While many, like Kurosawa, have rebuilt homes elsewhere, the Kobayashis and tens of thousands more remain displaced, unlikely to ever return home.
For Shigeko, it took time to accept her new life in quiet Kazo City. And when she thinks about the future --
KOBAYASHI: (SPEAKING JAPANESE)
GRAPHIC: Recovery Olympics?
ESSIG: -- she gets frustrated that the world will see a different version of Futaba, as the Olympic torch passes through the town her family was forced to leave.
KOBAYASHI (through translator): People may think Futaba is much restored, but if you travel a little further, there are many places abandoned and ruined that people will see no picture of them.
ESSIG: And they won't see the reality of a still contaminated coastline, an ecological and human disaster that experts say will remain long beyond her lifetime.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ESSIG: Well, one of the ongoing issues at the plant right now centers around the water being used to cool those damaged reactors. About 1.2 million tons of water being stored in about 1,000 tanks onsite at the plant. Those tanks are expected to be full within about a year.
Now, the government has proposed to start dumping that water, which they is safe after it's been untreated into the ocean. Of course, there's been a lot of backlash from across the country, specifically from the fishermen who make a living off the waters off of the coast of Fukushima.
Again, the optics being that, even if that water is considered safe, it will likely impact their livelihood for years to come -- John.
VAUSE: Blake, thank you. Blake Essig there, live in Tokyo.
We'll take a break. When we come back, Prince William and Kate have made the issue of mental health a priority, but they have not said a word on Meghan's struggles with mental issues since that bombshell interview. More on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:40:10]
VAUSE: CNN is learning details about a formal complaint Meghan Markle filed to broadcaster ITN about Piers Morgan and his insensitive comments about her mental health.
The now former host of ITV's "Good Morning Britain" said on Monday he doubted Meghan's claims that she had suicidal thoughts while she was pregnant. The revelations came during her recent interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Piers Morgan left the program on Tuesday. He says he still doesn't believe her.
The duchess also said during the interview that she asked for support but did not receive any. A surprising claim, given that Prince Harry and William, along with Duchess Kate, have been leading their own mental health initiatives.
CNN's Scott McLean reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three days after her landmark interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan's brutally honest revelations about her own mental health are still making waves. MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: But I knew that if I didn't say it,
that I would do it. And I just didn't -- I just didn't want to be alive anymore.
MCLEAN: We now know that the duchess of Sussex filed a formal complaint to a British network after host Piers Morgan questioned the seriousness of mental health concerns.
PIERS MORGAN, FORMER CO-PRESENTER, ITV'S "GOOD MORNING BRITAIN": I'm sorry. I don't believe a word she says.
MCLEAN: Morgan has now gone from his TV presenter chair. That network, ITV, not the only institution that says it takes mental health seriously.
PRINCE WILLIAM, UNITED KINGDOM: What's happened with us and what's happened with others, as well, you have to prioritize -- prioritize your mental health.
MCLEAN: The royal family, especially William and Kate, who have so far been silent on the interview, have made mental health a priority. They even have a branded campaign called Heads Together, which encourages Brits to speak up when they're struggling.
KATE MIDDLETON, DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE: You're amazingly close, and yes --
PRINCE WILLIAM: Most of the time.
MIDDLETON: No, but it's you know, and some families are sadly not as lucky as you guys have been in being able to share things.
PRINCE WILLIAM: But we have been brought closer because of the circumstances, as well.
MCLEAN: The parallels between their mother, Princess Diana, and Meghan are long. Mental health was also a focus of Diana's own landmark interview after leaving the family in 1995.
DIANA SPENCER, FORMER PRINCESS OF WALES: When no one listens to you, or you feel no one's listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen. For instance, you have so much pain inside yourself that you try and hurt yourself on the outside, because you want help. But it's the wrong help you're asking for. People say it is crying wolf or attention seeking.
MARKLE: Begging for help, saying very specifically, I am concerned for mental welfare. And people go, yes. Yes, it's disproportionally terrible we see out there to anyone else, but nothing was ever done.
MCLEAN: The queen, in early statement so far after the interview, says, "The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning."
But British tabloids have run wild with her addition, "Some recollections may vary." It's unclear what the palace means by that, but it is clear that the palace will deal with this quietly as a family matter.
PRINCE HARRY, UNITED KINGDOM: We think, if everyone's life is perfect, then there must be something wrong with me. But if you can have a family environment when you can talk to me about your issues, that makes for a better family, better preparation, probably working better at your job, doing better at school.
MCLEAN: Scott McLean, CNN, Windsor, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, thank you for watching CNN, I'll be back at the top of the hour with another issue of CNN NEWSROOM. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT is up next.
[00:43:33]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
