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Nuclear Power Plant Cut from Ukrainian Power Grid; Judge Orders Release of Redacted Affidavit; Macron Seeks Ties with Algeria Beyond 'Painful' History; California Bans New Gasoline Car Sales by 2035; Former U.K. Ambassador Charged with Immigration Crime; UN Report On Uyghur Mistreatment Could Be Further Delayed; 900+ People Killed In Pakistan By Monsoon Rains, Flooding; Texas Drought Uncovers 110M-Year- Old Dinosaur Tracks. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired August 26, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on "CNN Newsroom,' fires near the Zaporizhzhia power plant knocked it off the power grid, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.
The worst humanitarian disaster of this decade. That's what Pakistan's government is calling flooding in parts of the country, saying that rising waters have affected an estimated 33 million people.
And the historic decision in California as state air regulators vote to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035 to curb climate change. A look at why they expect more U.S. states to follow their lead.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: The largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been disconnected from the nation's power grid, once again sparking fears of a potential disaster. Ukraine says it happened after fires damaged the last remaining power line out of the Zaporizhzhia plant on Thursday. Kyiv and Moscow have been trading blame over outages of the facility, which has been held by Russian forces since March.
While still not connected to the grid, power has been restored to the plant, and that is critical because it needs power to cool its reactors to prevent them from melting down. President Zelenskyy says his government isn't taking any chances. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I want to assure all Ukrainians, we are doing everything to prevent an
emergency scenario. But it depends not only on our state. International pressure is needed that will force the occupiers to immediately withdraw from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The IAEA and other international organizations must act much faster than now because every minute of the Russian military staying at the nuclear plant is a risk of global radiation disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The disconnection is raising concerns that Moscow may be trying to divert electricity from Zaporizhzhia to occupy parts of Ukraine. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has also been pushing for its inspectors to go to the plant. The agency's director is now optimistic it may happen soon. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAFAEL GROSSI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL (through translator): I think now there is general recognition that we need to be there. We need to be there soon. Kyiv accepts it. Moscow accepts it. We need to go, and we are going to be there, hopefully, very, very soon.
UNKNOWN: Is very soon days or weeks?
GROSSI: Days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Power losses may be the biggest threat to the Zaporizhzhia plant, but they're not the only ones. Sam Kiley explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are two major threats to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. One, civilian, the other, military. The civilian threat technical issue (INAUDIBLE) today with two power cuts. Effectively, the power supply to the nuclear power station was severed.
There were four lines. That was down to one. That was cut, the Ukrainians say, as a result of Russian shelling, the Russians say as a result of a short circuit. Either way, the danger is that if that is cut and then not reconnected as it has been, the cooling system to the two functioning nuclear reactors there could be in danger.
There are back-up generators that are diesel-powered but they can unreliable. They rely, obviously, on the supplies of diesel going into a war zone. But the other issue is military, and that also poses a severe threat.
(Voice-over): A fireman tests for radioactive fallout. It's an essential ritual repeated several times a day.
It is safe for now. But the war and the shelling that puts this city on the frontline of a potential nuclear disaster continues. (On camera): The pattern over the last month has been that the city has been hit mostly at night. But in the last week, the locals are telling us that there have been regular attacks during the daytime, more or less at exactly this time of day, around about 3:00.
(Voice-over): While communications are reestablished, an officer explains where the shelling is coming from, pointing to three locations close to a Ukrainian nuclear power station captured by Russia in March.
[02:05:00]
KILEY (voice-over): And now, Ukraine's top nuclear official is raising fears that Russian trucks, which have been parked inside the plant's turbine hall, could be laden with explosives or cause an accidental fire.
PETRO KOTIN, PRESIDENT, ENERGOATOM: If it happens, then there will be a major fire in the turbine hall. And after that, it can actually affect (INAUDIBLE).
KILEY (on camera): Essentially, are you saying that that risks a meltdown of the reactor?
KOTIN: Yes, could be, because, you know, you cannot stop this fire if it goes.
KILEY (voice-over): There has been renewed exodus of civilians living under Russian occupation in the town's close to Europe's biggest nuclear power plant. Safely in Ukrainian-held Zaporizhzhia-, they consistently told CNN that Russian troops were bombarding locations close to the plant, shelling that Russia blames on Ukraine.
The internet is switched off before it starts.
(On camera): Now, international inspectors may be able to get to that power plant in the next few days, but it won't solve the significant problem that this is a nuclear power plant for the first time in history that is on the front line of an international war and it is the first time that this nuclear power station has ever been cut from the Ukrainian network. Both of those factors are unlikely to be solved merely by inspections.
Sam Kiley, CNN, in Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And CNN is keeping an eye on developments surrounding the Zaporizhzhia plant. For the latest, Scott McLean joins us from London. Scott, a stark warning from Ukraine's president about how close we are to disaster her. What more can you tell us?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kim. Yeah, as you would hope with any nuclear power plant, there are a lot of backup systems in place, but because of the fighting in the area, those backup systems have really been whittled down to very few, one power line, as Sam explained there in his story that got cut twice yesterday, and now these diesel generators.
Now, the plant itself is actually offline, but it still needs power to keep the cooling systems working, to keep the ventilation system and even just to keep the lights on as well.
As you heard Sam say, the Ukrainians, the Russians, they blame each other for why exactly these power cuts and why these problems are cropping up. Satellite images show that there actually was a fire in the area very recently, which CNN unconfirmed did cause power outages in some of the towns and cities around the power plant, not just the power plant itself.
But if you ask the head of Ukraine state nuclear power operator, he says that Russia, they are trying to cut the power to the plant deliberately. And it's not because they want to cause some kind of a nuclear accident or anything like that. He says it is because they want to connect the plant to the Russian power system.
The difficulty in doing that is that the Ukrainian system and the Russian system, they run on different frequencies, and so to disconnect from the Ukrainian system and then connect to the Russian system, you would have to shut the plant down completely. And during that portion or during that time where the plant is getting switched over, you would have to rely on those backup generators, which really are not meant to run for long periods of time.
And so, that, he says, is the dangerous period of time that we are running into. Obviously, yesterday, those diesel-power generators kicked in and President Zelenskyy said that the world needs to understand what the risk is. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): If the diesel generators hadn't turned on, if the automation in our staff and that plant had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of a radiation accident. Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in the situation one step away from a radiation disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: And Kim, Zelenskyy's other main point is that more international pressure is needed not only from other countries but also from the International Atomic Energy Agency to pressure Russia into giving up control of the nuclear power plant.
He says that he also spoke to President Biden about this, he was understanding, but he reminded Biden that it is a lot easier to pressure Russia now than it would be after a potential nuclear accident when you have radiation pollution blowing all across Europe.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, no kidding, so much at stake here. Scott McLean, thank you so much.
Now, our Alexander Marquardt spoke earlier with retired Air Force colonel and CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton about why the Zaporizhzhia plant is so strategically important. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL: This is the dividing line right here between the Ukrainian forces and the Russian forces, the Ukrainians in the north, the Russians in the south. The Zaporizhzhia plant itself is right there on the Russian side. The town of Zaporizhzhia is over here on the other side, on the Ukrainian side. But the key thing is this; The plant, the nuclear power plant lies in the path of any possible Ukrainian advance.
[02:10:00]
LEIGHTON: If the Ukrainians wanted to cut the Russian forces like this, the plant in Zaporizhzhia is right there, and that is why it is so important for the Ukrainians to keep this plant as safe as they possibly can.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So, to what extent, do you think, the plant being right there is slowing the advances that the Ukrainians would like to be making?
LEIGHTON: Oh, it's actually almost stopping those advances because of the radiation danger. And what President Zelenskyy just announced, that becomes a very key element because the Ukrainians want to be very careful that they don't have a Fukushima-style accident occurring where radiation would potentially permeate this entire region.
MARQUARDT: Would you agree with Ukrainian officials that the Russians are essentially holding this plant hostage?
LEIGHTON: Absolutely. The Russians are doing this deliberately. What they are seeing is the ability to really not only hold Ukraine hostage, but the west itself, not only NATO but the United Nations, all of these elements of organized international governance are being held hostage by what the Russians are doing there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now, to the FBI search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, a U.S. federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to release a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant. Now, it could happen any time between now and noon Eastern time Friday, but we may not find out much more about the investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents.
CNN's Jessica Schneider reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We could see the Mar-a- Lago search warrant affidavit in redacted form at any moment, and that's because the federal judge in this case, Bruce Reinhart, has ruled that the Justice Department must make public the version they submitted to him on Thursday.
Now, this is a version that is likely significantly blacked out, but it could still reveal a few procedural details about why the search at Mar-a-Lago happened on August 8th.
The judge wrote that the DOJ must unseal their version of the affidavit by noon on Friday. And we saw that the judge did agree that the DOJ does need to black outs substantial portions of the affidavit since the judge said it could reveal the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents. It could even reveal uncharged parties who might eventually be charged with crime related to this ongoing criminal investigation into classified information.
The judge also said that the DOJ could black out details relating to the sources and methods and grand jury information since we know, of course, the grand jury has been hearing evidence for months. They even issued a subpoena to Trump for return of some of this material.
So, the public will soon see a bit more detail but probably not a lot more about what prompted a federal judge to approve this unprecedented search of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and resort. That will be by noon on Friday.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Conservative voters in the U.K. will finalize their choice next week to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister. But the leading candidate, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, is already putting France's president on notice. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: President Macron, friend or foe?
LIZ TRUSS, U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY: The jury is out, but if I --
(APPLAUSE)
TRUSS: -- if I -- if I -- if I become prime minister, I will judge him on deeds, not words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Now, relations between the two NATO allies have been stormy ever since Brexit with bitter disputes over fishing rights turning especially heated over the past year.
And for his part, President Macron is in Algeria on a fence-mending trip over remarks he reportedly made last year that deeply angered many Algerians. On Thursday, the French leader acknowledged the complex and painful legacy that French colonialism has led on the country, and underscoring all of this is the matter of natural gas, which Algeria has and France needs.
CNN's Melissa Bell has that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: This is an extremely important trip for France, coming as it does, as Europeans leaders scramble to get extra natural gas supplies ahead of the winter months. The Italian leader peeping Emmanuel Macron at the post by going to Algeria in July and securing 4 billion cubic meters of extra Algerian natural gas.
(INAUDIBLE) ahead of the visit really dumping down expectations and talking instead about the need for this visit to deal with the history of France and Algeria, the memory question that has meant that relations have been so fraught historically over the years, not just the colonial presence of France in Algeria for so long, but the particular brutality of the Algerian war for independence.
To this day, French presidents find it difficult to deal with the question when they go to Algeria. It was 2012, Francois Hollande had been inspected to apologize. When he stopped short of that, Algerians have been extremely upset. There had been hope on the Algerian side when Emmanuel Macron became president.
[02:14:53]
BELL: When he went there as a candidate and spoke of the need for France to apologize, that things will change, but in fact, the relationship only then soured with the comments made by the French president last year to a group of Algerian students about Algeria nationhood having been born as a result of French colonialism, causing a huge backlash on the part of Algeria.
The Algerian ambassador being recalled to France in the last few months. Emmanuel Macron trying to improve the relationship with the Algerian president. There have been a number of telephone exchanges. Now, it is about bringing that together in the context of France needing Algeria and its gas supplies in Algeria, hoping that it will convince the world that it is very much on the side of Europe and not on the side of Moscow, despite several months of (INAUDIBLE) between Russia and Algeria.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: California is taking drastic action to get gas-guzzling vehicles off the road. Ahead, its bold plan to reduce dangerous emissions.
And Europe's extremely hot summer may be the new normal. We will look at why climate experts say the record-breaking heat is here to stay. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BRUNHUBER: A new study warns the record-breaking heat wave that has been scorching the earth is going to become the new normal in the coming years, even if countries fulfill their pledges to reduce greenhouse gases.
The analysis comes from U.K.'s meteorological office and says that searing heat will be considered average by 2035. Researchers are looking at how quickly temperatures have been changing across the region, and they predict that by the year 2100, the average summer in central Europe will be hotter by 4 degrees Celsius than it was in the pre-industrial era, and that is largely due to human-induced climate change.
Chair of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group says, even if countries meet their commitments to reduce emissions, they have made so far, the situation is still to get worse, with weather in Europe predicted to become even more extreme than seen this summer.
By the 2035, all new vehicles sold in California must be zero- emission. The state wants to phase out gas cars and trucks and reduce harmful emissions. California air regulators unanimously approved the gradual ban on Thursday, which is the first of its kind nationwide and among the first in the world.
CNN's Chris Nguyen has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Simply put, given the size of California's economy, this decision will have a major impact on the U.S. car market. Here in California, nearly two million new vehicles are sold each year, which is why this is such a big deal. Today's vote was years in the making and could encourage even more people to consider buying an electric vehicle. Here is what a transportation expert had to say about the decision.
ASHA WEINSTEIN AGRAWAL, URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING PROFESSOR, SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY: This is a historic moment. And by having a clear fixed target, when we stopped selling gas and diesel vehicles, we are going to be making a really important dent in our need to reduce greenhouse gas emission.
[02:20:06]
NGUYEN: However, this isn't going to happen overnight. Officials have drafted up some benchmarks that they hope the state will meet. For example, by the year 2026, the hope is for 35% of new vehicles to be zero-emission. Those target numbers then go up each year until 2035. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And Liane Randolph is the chair of the California Air Resources Board. She is with us from Sacramento. Thanks so much for being here with us. So, we touched on -- California is the country's biggest car market. California's economy is fifth biggest in the world. So, what effect will this have not just on California but on the country and maybe around the world?
LIANE RANDOLPH, CHAIR, CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD: Well, we in California see this as a huge opportunity to be world leaders in making this transition to zero-emission vehicles. In California, we set standards and 17 other states follow those standards as well. So, those states and California together are 40% of the vehicle market in the United States. And so, that will have a huge impact on the plans for automakers to transition with zero-emission vehicles.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. So, the automakers say -- you know, they agree, they want to get more electric cars on the market, but some of the challenges to getting there, they say, are out of their control, things like inflation, supply chain problems, labor, the availability of critical minerals, the semiconductor shortage. How valid are their concerns?
RANDOLPH: Well, this is a transition that is going to take some time. And we have already gotten underway in terms of providing infrastructure support throughout the state of California. We have spent over $3 billion on infrastructure deployment for zero-emission vehicles from a variety of sources.
And we are optimistic that as the supply chain issues work their way through and automakers are able to increase the number of vehicles they are able to make available out to the market that the cost of these vehicles will reach parity with internal combustion engine vehicles very soon, and they will be very attractive to purchasers because they have a lower total cost of ownership because the fuel costs less than gas and the repair costs are less as well.
BRUNHUBER: It's been a long road sort of getting to this point and there might still be more bumps ahead. I mean, the Trump administration had rolled back your state's ability to make this move. It was later reinstated this year. And then now, attorney generals from many Republican states have sued to revoke California's ability to set these new standards. So, how seriously do you see this legal challenger or potential challenge maybe from a future Republican president?
RANDOLPH: California had clear authorities set these standards for decades under the Clean Air Act. We are so pleased to be able to partner with the Biden administration to ensure that we retain that authority, and we will vigorously defend that authority. I'm confident (INAUDIBLE).
BRUNHUBER: Well, the head of the EV Equity Program in central California, they said, you know, folks with lower incomes may not be able to make that transition to EVs because of the higher prices. So, you know, if the carmakers manufacturer more EVs, the price will drop, and there are new tax rates that have just been announced by the Biden ministration.
But that said, EVs, at least for the foreseeable future, they will be more expensive, and lower income communities, they might not have sort of the same access to the same charging infrastructure, more wealthy areas, for instance. Are you worried at all about those who might be left behind?
RANDOLPH: We think it is really important to prioritize communities in California and lift up those underserved communities. So, we are absolutely partnering with other state and local agencies to ensure that the infrastructure is being rolled out in underserved communities.
And we are also orienting individual incentives that we provided in state of California more towards lower (INAUDIBLE) assist them in purchasing vehicles.
And we want to make sure there is a robust secondary market. In California, only about 30% of car buyers buy a new car. A lot of folks buy used cars. And so, we want to ensure with our battery durability requirements and requirements to disclose the state of health of batteries. That is part of our regulatory structure that we adopted today. We want to make sure that there is a robust secondary market.
BRUNHUBER: All right.
[02:24:58]
BRUNHUBER: And finally, as I talk about -- you know, there are other countries that are looking at this. Certainly, other countries have made similar types of promises, but they haven't enacted the same regulations that California has. How do you think that this will affect other countries in terms of their legislation, sparking perhaps similar things?
RANDOLPH: It's really important to have enforceable standard. So, we are really pleased to take this forward. And we are hopeful that other jurisdictions will be able to do the same and use some of the strategies that we are deploying in this regulation in terms of milestones and benchmarks and really supporting the work with, as I mentioned, incentives for both purchasing vehicles and for infrastructure. All of those pieces are important to make that zero- emission in the future.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We will have to leave it there. Really appreciate your time. Liane Randolph in Sacramento, thanks so much.
RANDOLP: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: You are watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Atlanta. Just ahead, the former British diplomat arrested in Myanmar. We will look at the charges she is facing and why some say it is just a pretense.
And death toll in Pakistan keeps going up as monsoon rains pound parts of the country with little relief in sight. We will go live to Islamabad next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: The former British ambassador to Myanmar is facing five years in prison, accused of violating the country's Immigration Act. But some say Vicky Bowman's arrest could be retaliation for new sanctions imposed by London.
CNN's Paula Hancock's reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vicky Bowman was once the top British diplomat in Myanmar. She's now behind bars charged with breaking immigration laws, charged by the military, who seized power in a bloody coup in February last year.
MICHELLE BACHELET, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: If a former ambassador has been detained, can you imagine what happened to so many other normal people without influences, without a country who can help them like the U.K.?
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Bowman was an ambassador from 2002 to 2006, marrying Burmese artist and former political prisoner Htein Lin, making Myanmar her home. She spoke of her husband's pro-democracy activism in 2017.
VICKY BOWMAN, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO MYANMAR: He was very much part of those student demonstrations in '88, which then when the military took over, took him on a very long journey. First, to the Indian border, to Manapur (ph), and then to the Chinese border, and then back, and then through three jails.
[02:29:56]
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Both are being held in the infamous insane prison, according to the (INAUDIBLE), her local news website, although likely separated, a prison filled with political prisoners and tales of beatings and torture.
Bowman leads the Myanmar Center for Responsible Business, a non- governmental group encouraging corporate responsibility.
PHIL ROBERTSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Vicky Bowman was always about engagement. She was always about working with people building coalitions and trying to make the situation better.
HANCOCKS: The UK Foreign Office, while not naming Bowman says they are in contact with local authorities and providing consular assistance.
HANCOCKS (on camera): The arrest comes as the UK increased sanctions against military-linked businesses in Myanmar on the fifth anniversary of the massacres against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State. The UK is also joining a case against Myanmar and the UN's top court, the International Court of Justice, which accuses the military of genocide. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea says four suspected fever cases from earlier this week turned out to be influenza. State media report the government has lifted lockdown restrictions at an area near the border with China where the outbreak was concentrated. Just two weeks ago, North Korea declared victory over COVID-19, although the lack of front pre-press makes that claim tough to verify.
Well, it's been four years since a panel of U.N. experts drew attention to credible reports that more than one million Uyghur Muslims were being subjected to brutal reeducation camps in northwestern China. But along the way, the UN report could be delayed even further, leaving many to wonder if China will ever be held to account for its mistreatment of the minority population. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is set to end her term in office in a few days. And her office is -- she's trying to release a report on the Uyghur crisis before she leaves her post. But it's unclear if that will happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE BACHELET, UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: As you may imagine, we have been receiving pressure from all countries from people who want the publication and from countries who believe that they shouldn't be publicized. But to be honest, that's not the way we decide how we work. We follow our own human rights procedures and human rights methodology and no pressure will make any change on our decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Human Rights Activists accuse the Chinese government of detaining more than a million Uyghur Muslims in a network of reeducation camps across China, where there are reports of torture, sexual violence, and forced sterilization. Beijing says the camps are Vocational Education and Training Centers created to counter ethnic extremism.
Pakistan's climate change Minister says monsoon rains and floods have affected at least 33 million people plus more than 900 people including more than 300 children have been killed and thousands have been left homeless by the seasonal rains. Pakistan is appealing for help from the international community saying the rains threatened a humanitarian disaster. And funds are needed for flood relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.
Peter Ophoff is the head of the Paxton Office for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and he joins me now from Islamabad. Thanks so much for being here with us. It's hard to overstate how catastrophic this has been. I mean, the death toll -- the pictures we're seeing are just horrific. First, give us your impressions of what you've been seeing.
PETER OPHOFF, HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES, PAKISTAN: Yes. First of all, thank you so much for having us. Yes, the situation is very bad in Pakistan. The International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies together with the Pakistan Red Crescent is responding to the -- to the big disaster. We did have very bad monsoon rains which are continuing.
The rainfall that we got in Pakistan is tenfold of what normally should happen in a -- in a monsoon season. The monsoon season has been extended. We have -- the forecast is definitely going up to mid- September. The situation is very bad. Communities are affected, infrastructure has been damaged, and the Red Cross (AUDIO GAP).
BRUNHUBER: I think we may have lost our guest there. Oh, he -- I think he's back. Peter, can you hear us?
OPHOFF: I can hear loud and clear. Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: OK, great. We just lost you there for a second. So I just want to touch on something that you had mentioned there. You said you know these monsoon rains? I mean, they are -- they happen every year. So why did these ones, in particular, catch everybody off guard?
OPHOFF: Well, I think the whole world has been affected by climate change. And I think it's very clear that this is also a pattern to -- due to the climate change. And while we all knew, of course, after the rainy season will be there, the monsoon season will be there.
[02:35:02]
This is really unprecedented what's happening now. And looking at the damage and looking at the impact that it has on the people, people are really looking back at the massive flood stuff and monsoon that we have in 2010. We had the megafloods which affected that time 20 plus million people and we are very much afraid that we go in the same direction now.
BRUNHUBER: So what is the greatest need right now?
OPHOFF: Well, the need is very much immediately doubled so the Pakistan Red Crescent and Red Cross Federation is responding to is temporary shelter. So we are providing tents. It's also looking into hygiene and health. We have our mobile health teams in the fields, we are distributing hygiene kits. But also the need for cash so that people can do the effect that can actually provide themselves with the most urgent needs.
Mosquito nets because we do have, of course, a problem as well with malaria and dengue so mosquito nets are there and safe drinking water. The Pakistan Red Crescent has deployed their mobile water filtration teams and equipment and they are on the field and providing safe drinking water for the affected people.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And the problem is -- I mean, that's far from over. A top official in Sindh province in the south says the situation was worse than those floods you mentioned in 2010 when floods killed at least 1700 people and more rains are expected. So how bad do you think things are likely to get?
OPHOFF: Well, focusing on the forecast that we have, it will continue, it will become very, very bad. The situation is changing daily. You mentioned that the ministry mentioned 23 million people affected, and the Prime Minister yesterday mentioned 31 million people affected. The figures are going up on a daily basis. But what then the most affected area was Balochistan last week.
Now, that is being shifted to Sindh province being the most affected. The situation is dire and we are really, really in need of huge assistance and support to be able for the Pakistan Red Crescent and our practice -- on our partners as well here in Pakistan to respond to the disaster.
BRUNHUBER: You spoke of some of the acute needs, but this has affected a lot of lands that was used for agriculture and so on. So what are the long term effects here do you think?
OPHOFF: We will -- we will really see this disaster being having an effect for the longer term in Pakistan. So the heavy -- the heavy rains have destroyed the infrastructure. So we know already over 130 bridges that have been destroyed. So far the official figures but I'm sure that will go up. We're talking about 3000 kilometers of roads that has been destroyed as well because of the rain. And livestock, over 700,000 livestock has been killed because of the rain. Crops have been destroyed.
So we really see this for a longer time to come and the people really would need the assistance provided. Pakistan Red Crescent and its partners here the Turkish Red Crescent, Norwegian Red Cross, and German Red Cross, of course, with RCST and the International Federation are doing whatever is possible to assist the people in their immediate needs. But we are looking as well after a longer-term operation where we will continue to assist the people for the months and years probably to come.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. I -- listen, I hope you get the help you need. The need is so great out there. Peter Ophoff, thank you so much for your time.
OPHOFF: Thank you so much for having us. Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: All right, a remarkable discovery in a park in Texas, the well-preserved tracks of a dinosaur that lived more than 100 million years ago. We'll have that story and more after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:41:08]
BRUNHUBER: The extreme drought conditions in Texas led to a remarkable discovery at the bottom of a dried-up river. Have a look here. These dinosaur tracks are believed to be from creatures that roam the area some 110 million years ago. Reuters news agency spoke with Dinosaur Valley State Park superintendent Jeff Davis about the discovery. Here he is.
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JEFF DAVIS, SUPERINTENDENT, DINOSAUR VALLEY STATE PARK: Over the summer, the summer of 2022, it's been a pretty bad drought, and so the river -- the Paluxy River that runs through the center of the park has dried up and left us high and dry, which is not a great thing. But the good thing about it is that it exposes dinosaur tracks that either haven't been seen before or tracks that have not been seen in years or sometimes decades. But it's an animal. It's a dinosaur called Acrocanthosaurus from 113 million years ago. It was a bipedal, you know, two-legged carnivore, small arms, very much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but a little bit smaller. But it was still a pretty large creature. They were about seven tonnes or so when they were big. So not a small -- it's not a small crater, for sure. And they walked through the limey muddy seashore, on the edge of the Cretaceous ocean that ran through what's now the United States.
What protects these tracks, you know, they were laid down as a dinosaur walked on these muddy sea shores. And then within a few days, or possibly a few weeks, sometime in the not too distant future from when they were -- when they were put there, a flood covered it over with sediments. And that sediment is what protected it. And then over time, those layers of sediment turned into limestone and other stones there. And from hundred -- for over 100 million years, those were protected and preserved by those layers of sediment and rock. And then the river carves down through those layers and exposes the tracks.
So it's kind of a double-edged sword because without the river, we wouldn't be able to see them we wouldn't know they were there. But once they're exposed, that's when they start to degrade. Just like any other rocks, they're going to break down over time, thanks to weathering and erosion. This is a creature that really lived and walk the earth. It wasn't just in a movie when I was a kid. And so that's pretty special for me.
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BRUNHUBER: Wow, pretty special, absolutely. All right, thanks for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "WORLD SPORT" is up next.
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