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Queen's State Funeral Set For Monday Morning; White House Slams Governors Sending Migrants To Other States; Russia Attacks Ukrainian Infrastructure; Pakistan Floods Leave Stagnant Water, Fueling Rapid Spread Of Disease. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired September 18, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, as the royal family prepares to bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, thousands of mourners gather to pay their respects on this final day of the late monarch's lying in state.
Gruesome discoveries in Kharkiv and accusations of depravity from a fleeing Russian military. How they're depicted across Russian state media.
And tropical storm Fiona is expected to reach hurricane strength when it reaches Puerto Rico later today. We are live in the CNN Weather Center.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Gruesome discoveries in Kharkiv and accusations of depravity from a fleeing Russian military. We will have that story coming up here in a second.
And Japan issues a tsunami warning for an outlying area.
Right now, we are looking at live pictures of the queen lying in state in Westminster. It's 9:00 am in London, the final full day that people can come pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth. Public viewing is set to end at 6:30 tomorrow morning. That's when the queen's coffin will leave Westminster Hall in preparation for the funeral.
Prince William and Prince Harry, along with their royal cousins, surrounded the queen's coffin, just as their parents are done the day before. Even though Harry is no longer a working royal, the king granted special dispensation for him to wear his ceremonial uniform and medals. Also on Saturday, King Charles did a walkabout, greeting people
waiting in the queue and to thank them for their support.
We're going to go live now to CNN's Nada Bashir who joins us from London.
Preparations for the funeral are underway.
What are we expecting?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Preparations are well underway. We are seeing the infrastructure still being built around us here in Westminster for the media, which will be descending.
And there are hundreds to cover the events tomorrow. This set to be an event beyond compare; 2,000 people expected to attend the funeral. Among them, hundreds of foreign dignitaries, who are already arriving in London over the weekend.
We know Joe Biden, the U.S. president was here; the leaders of Australia and New Zealand; we saw Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau just yesterday in Westminster Hall over here, paying his respects to the queen.
As you mentioned, the queen will be lying in state in Westminster Hall until 6:30 am tomorrow. Members of the public are still queueing. We've been speaking to one couple, who has been waiting overnight, Rich and Stephanie here.
Hello.
How long were you waiting in that queue to get in?
STEPHANIE, MOURNER: We were waiting for 11.5 hours overnight. So it was pretty cold and -- and we were quite chilly. But there was a lot of good camaraderie, wasn't there --
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STEPHANIE: So we made some buddies.
RICH, MOURNER: Queue buddies we made.
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RICH: While waiting.
STEPHANIE: It was lovely. It was quite emotional.
BASHIR: How was the experience being in there?
STEPHANIE: It was incredibly emotional. I think what struck me most of all is I felt -- I composed myself before I went in, thought I was quite composed. And then when I got in there, it completely changed and I was very overwhelmed.
It was just awe inspiring. And the whole thing, the queen's coffin and the crown, it was just memories all flooding back, wasn't it?
RICH: It was. I was standing on top of the steps before I actually walked down to walk past. And my heart was just pounding away. It just took me completely by surprise.
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STEPHANIE: It's very atmospheric in there because the soldiers and all the people around the coffin are absolutely so stationary and solemn and serious, which is what, of course, they would have to be.
But everything adds to the atmosphere and it makes it -- it just makes it overwhelming and totally emotional. And I'm so very, very glad I've done it because if I hadn't have been, I'd have always looked back and regretted it. So that's one of the things I'm really pleased, you know, we've come and come to view it.
BASHIR: Well, good luck with the rest of the journey --
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STEPHANIE: I think we are probably going to go home to bed.
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BASHIR: Really that is what people have been telling us up and down the queue. Thank you so much. This is a moment they didn't want to miss, despite the long wait and the cold weather overnight.
Kim, we have actually seen several people now pitching up tents around us here at Parliament Square, waiting for the funeral tomorrow. They want to have the chance to see the queen's coffin being carried in that procession from the Palace of Westminster just across the street to Westminster Abbey where that funeral will take place.
We are expecting to see King Charles III and Princes Edward and Andrew, Princess Anne following behind that carriage as well as other senior members of the royal family. So that will be a ceremony to behold tomorrow.
BRUNHUBER: It's interesting to hear the emotions in the voices of the people you spoke to there and certainly there will be plenty of emotions throughout the day and tomorrow for the funeral. Thanks so much, Nada Bashir in London.
Well, as we've been reporting, global leaders are traveling to London to honor the late queen. U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived on Saturday and will be among the heads of state attending the funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday. Arlette Saenz has more.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in London late Saturday night as they are preparing to honor the life of Queen Elizabeth II. That will start with events on Sunday afternoon as the president and first lady will travel to Westminster Hall to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth.
They will also later sign an official condolence book before attending a reception held by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, which will also include other members of the royal family.
The president spoke with King Charles on Wednesday to offer his condolences to the family. But that reception could possibly give them a chance to offer those condolences in person, face-to-face, to both the king and other members of the royal family.
Now on Monday, the president and first lady will be among the up to 2,000 guests who will be attending the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey. No official guest list has been unveiled yet.
But the president is expected to be one of many world leaders who will be on hand for those ceremonies, including the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and also the president of South Korea.
Now also, the U.K. had initially said that President Biden would be meeting with the new prime minister, Liz Truss, on Sunday. But both the White House and Downing Street on Saturday announced that that bilateral meeting will actually take place here in the U.S., in New York, on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
But this trip to London will offer President Biden an opportunity to express condolences from the American people to the British people, as well as honor the life of Queen Elizabeth, who they met last at Windsor Castle in June of 2021.
The queen hosted the president and first lady there. And in a statement after her passing, they said that she charmed them with her wit and moved them with her kindness. And the president also said that she wasn't just a monarch but she defined an era -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: As wife of the new king, Queen Consort Camilla is already taking a more prominent role in royal affairs. Tonight in a televised address to the country, Camilla will offer her own tribute to her late mother-in-law, who took the throne as a young woman in a far, far different world. The BBC provided this excerpt.
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CAMILLA, QUEEN CONSORT OF THE U.K.: She has been part of our lives forever. I'm 75 now and I can't remember anybody except the queen being there. It must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman. There weren't women prime ministers or women presidents. She was the only one. So I think she carved her own road.
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BRUNHUBER: And coverage of the queen's funeral begins Monday right here on CNN. It starts at 5:00 am in New York. That's 10:00 in the morning in London.
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BRUNHUBER: The Biden administration is slamming some Republican governors for sending asylum seekers to other states. This after Florida's governor used taxpayer money to send two planes of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts last week.
The White House says the governors of Texas, Arizona and Florida are using migrants as pawns in a cruel political stunt. And the Department of Homeland Security says the Republican governors of those three states are using people as props. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The ongoing feud between Republican governors and the Biden administration over immigration policy escalated this week with Florida governor Ron DeSantis jumping into the mix and sending some 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
Meanwhile Texas governor Greg Abbott send migrants in front of the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris. The White House was very critical of these actions this week, saying it was a political stunt.
And the Department of Homeland Security also weighing in, saying the lack of coordination between these states and the cities where they're sending migrants can, quote, "wreak havoc."
That has been a case to a degree. The city officials both in Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C., as well as New York and Chicago have been trying to shore up resources to help those asylum seekers that are sent by the states of Texas, Arizona and now Florida.
Now the Biden administration has been grappling with an increasing number of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border for months now. And they met yesterday to discuss support along the border as well as funding.
This was a meeting that a White House official told us was previously planned. But a source familiar with discussions also tells me that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice lawyers are discussing litigation options regarding the movement of migrants out of state by Republican governors.
But those governors showing no indication of standing down; just this morning Texas governor Greg Abbott sent migrants to Washington, D.C., again.
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BRUNHUBER: So as you heard Priscilla mention there, Republican governors have sent an influx of asylum seekers to Washington, D.C. Arizona, by its own tally, has sent more than 1,800 migrants to the nation's Capitol since May, costing taxpayers roughly $4 million.
Arizona and Florida's governors have vowed to continue sending asylum seekers to liberal states. Communities receiving the asylum seekers are rallying to help them, like this group in Washington.
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TATIANA LABORDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SAMU FIRST RESPONSE: We're moving them right now to a safe location, where we can give them food, a space to rest, a clean change -- sorry -- a clean change of clothes. And we will start working with them and making arrangements for their future travel.
We expect the majority of them to move especially to New York City and just a small percentage to stay within the district.
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BRUNHUBER: Attorneys representing dozens of asylum seekers flown to Massachusetts last week are urging federal officials to open a criminal investigation into those relocation efforts.
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JULIAN CYR (D-MA), STATE SENATOR: These are Venezuelans, who had fled the repressive regime of Maduro, who had come to the United States, who had already interacted with and been accounted to federal authorities, were in a shelter in San Antonio.
Outside of the shelter a woman approached them with promises of expedited work permits, with work, with housing, if they would travel to the sanctuary. And essentially they were told they were going to Boston.
It was really only when the plane was landing that they were told they would be on Martha's Vineyard, a place I don't think any of them had ever heard about.
So there's real questions about government taking into custody these individuals, the deception; clearly no informed consent here. So some big legal questions should be asked of DeSantis and anyone else who was involved in that.
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BRUNHUBER: The Republican governors say the relocations are meant to protest what they say are inadequate federal efforts on the southern border security.
Earlier I spoke with Ron Brownstein, CNN's senior political analyst, and I asked him about the strategy behind Republican governors sending migrants to northern liberal states. Here he is.
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RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Through these relocations and also through actions that Abbott in particular is taking in Texas, you can see the Republican governors are trying to assert more state authority over immigration policy, which is an arena that the courts, through American history, has ruled is almost exclusively a province of the federal government.
At the same time they're doing that, they have filed -- there are currently 20 lawsuits pending by various coalitions of red states, trying to restrict Biden's ability to undo hardline enforcement policies from Donald Trump.
So you can see the red states trying to gain control over immigration. And I see that as just one front in the much larger war, in which, through the same combination of actions in court and the unilateral actions in the states, the red states are trying to really reverse what has been a 60-year progression in the U.S. of nationalizing more rights and limiting the ability of states to restrict them.
Instead, we're seeing states roll back abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, censoring teachers, banning books.
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BROWNSTEIN: This is a serious attempt, in effect, to have a revolution from below and to seize control of national policy, even while Democrats hold the White House and Congress.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, you've written extensively about how they're trying to build this nation within a nation, focusing specifically on immigration. It's clear their moves -- it's enormously popular with their base, the MAGA base in particular. But it seems like a risky political strategy, given the growing Latino populations in their states.
Texas, for instance, Latinos, according to the most recent census estimates, have now become the largest demographic group in the state. But these governors have presumably done the math.
What are we missing here?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, you know, it's interesting; over the years, I think there has been kind of a renewed understanding that immigration itself is not typically the most important issue of Latino voters, even though many people for many years thought that it was.
They are more focused on the economy, on education and health care. And the threat that Democrats have is that Latinos, like young people, especially like blue collar whites, are all groups that really feel it when gas prices and grocery prices go up.
In a lot of white collar America, higher inflation is an inconvenience. That leaves more space to vote on values issues like abortion, guns, the belief that Trump is a threat to democracy.
But I think in Latino communities, many of these are families living at the edge and are really feeling squeezed by inflation. And that could be the paradox. The Democrats could see their support for -- among Latinos erode somewhat in 2022, even as Republicans move further to the right on immigration.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: That was CNN's senior political analyst Ron Brownstein.
This just into CNN: officials in Japan have posted a tsunami warning for the far southwestern islands of Japan after a large earthquake struck Taiwan.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.9 magnitude quake hit a rural area off the southeastern coast. It noted a short time ago that the tsunami threat has passed. We haven't heard reports of any casualties at this point but will have details as they become available, including a live report from Taipei coming up shortly.
Ukraine is revealing new images, claiming they are evidence of grisly crimes during the Russian occupation. Still ahead, the discovery of alleged torture rooms in areas held by Russia.
Plus, a new problem for Russian state media, how to argue things are going just fine if military operations are clearly headed south. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine is reporting a second horrific discovery following the rout of Russian troops in the northeast. Ukrainian prosecutors released these images, reportedly showing what they describe as torture rooms in the Kharkiv region.
Ukraine says it discovered more than 10 of those rooms after the Russian retreat, along with alleged torture devices.
CNN has reached out to Russia for a response. Ukraine now says Russia has committed more than 34,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression since the war began. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country will go after the perpetrators. Here he is.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Torture was a widespread practice in the occupied territory. That's what the Nazis did. This is what the Russians do. And they will be held accountable in the same way, both on the battlefield and in courtrooms.
We will establish all the identities of those who tortured, who abused, who brought this atrocity from Russia here to our Ukrainian land.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Russian state media report a gunfight broke out Saturday in the center of the occupied city of Kherson. It says Russian troops clashed with a group of armed men, who were, quote, "neutralized."
Ukraine has been making incremental gains in the region, reportedly hoping to retake it in the coming months. Ukraine now says Russian troops are constructing a makeshift river crossing to use as an escape route. Ukraine also says Russia is taking aim at its infrastructure after its retreat in the Kharkiv region.
They're saying Russia unleashed missiles, rockets and airstrikes on at least 30 areas across the country on Saturday. As Ben Wedeman reports from Kharkiv, Ukraine doesn't plan on stopping its offensive.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainian forces continue to gain more ground in the Kharkiv region, although at a slower pace than over the last two weeks, while Russian forces are trying to dig new defensive lines in the areas they still control.
The governor of the Kharkiv region says that his priority at the moment is to restore basic services -- electricity, water, heating -- in the newly liberated areas.
While efforts continue to exhume more bodies at the mass burial site outside Izyum and Ukrainian officials are showing journalists what they say were Russian prisons, complete with torture rooms.
This area continues to come under bombardment from Russian forces. Early Saturday morning, Russian missiles slammed into an industrial site here in the city of Kharkiv. In a nearby town, a Russian barrage, according to Ukrainian officials, killed an 11-year-old girl -- I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Kharkiv.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's recent military successes are posing a new challenge for Russia's state media, how to spin a clear defeat as anything but and how to convince Russians things are going according to plan, if this is the reality on the ground.
So to talk about that, we're joined by Alexey Kovalev, a Russian journalist, who is speaking to us from the Latvian capital.
Thank you for joining us here. Let's talk about the Russian reverses on the battle field and how they're being discussed.
Is it being discussed?
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BRUNHUBER: Do average Russians know about the successful Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian troops crumbling, abandoning equipment and so on?
ALEXEY KOVALEV, RUSSIAN JOURNALIST: They do, in fact. Good morning and thank you for having me. They do, in fact, but in a
very specific way. So because this defeat and this very -- this retreat from the Kharkiv region was too big to hide, yes, they are indeed discussing it on state television.
But so as to kind of sweeten the pill, the pundits on state television saying that Russia is losing not to Ukraine butt to NATO. They're saying it's the NATO forces who routed Russia in the Kharkiv.
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BRUNHUBER: Who is being blamed here?
Is it the Russian military or is it Putin himself that's coming under criticism and from whom?
KOVALEV: OK. So there are two different groups we are talking about here. The state television, of course, because it's completely loyal to the Kremlin and it won't be assigning blame to anyone.
As I said, they are blaming NATO forces. So they are basically saying that Russia is fighting not against Ukraine but against the entire West.
But there is another group, it's mostly pro-war bloggers, some of whom are directly involved in the war as mercenaries. And they are the extreme pro-war party and they are blaming Vladimir Putin directly for not prosecuting this war in an even more brutal way.
So both on state television and among these groups of far right extremists, who are blogging about the war and demanding that Putin drop all pretense of protecting the Russian speakers in Ukraine or liberating Donbas from Ukraine, whatever the original excuse for invading Ukraine was.
So now they are openly calling for massive strikes, massive crippling strikes against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure so that Ukraine is plunged into dark and cold for the winter. They are openly advocating more war crimes.
BRUNHUBER: Is it likely if Putin is feeling any of that criticism?
Is he likely to listen?
Is he likely to carry out more extreme violence against Ukraine or maybe mobilize, do a general mobilization, as others have been calling for, in Russia?
KOVALEV: This is a very tricky issue for him because major general mobilization is unlikely because he has to balance between the two -- two different groups with very different interests.
So you've probably seen the polls to suggest that 55 or something percent of Russians support the war. But they are very implausible because, you know, the official pollsters did not ask Russians if they support the war because the very word "war" is forbidden in Russia. It's a criminal liability to call it the war. Officially it's a special military operation.
Independent polling suggests about 60 percent of all Russians don't really care either way. They will support the war as long as it doesn't affect them personally. About 15 percent are anti-war and another 15 are actively and genuinely pro-war.
This is the group of people that are now demanding -- that are accusing the Russian minister of defense basically of treason, because they are not -- they are accusing the Russian defense minister of sabotaging Vladimir Putin's orders because he is not basically committing more war crimes.
And this is -- this group is small and marginal but they command a sizable media resource. They are bloggers with the combined audience of maybe 2 million or 3 million people.
So Vladimir Putin has two very different messages for these groups. For the 60 percent of Russians who are -- will answer yes to any question, as long as it doesn't really affect them in a personal way, as long as their sons and husbands and brothers aren't drafted into the army, for them, the message this isn't really a war; it's a special military operation fought by professionals.
So you don't have to worry about anything. For the other group that he also depends on, because they are actively involved in the war and they're helping the war effort through crowd funding resources for the Russian soldiers in the field, the message is very different.
But they are now disappointed because they are not getting what they were promised. The original promise was taking over in three days, because the first columns of Russian armor rolling into Ukraine in late February were carrying parade uniforms with them, because they were expecting to hold a victory parade in downtown Kyiv on February 26 or 27.
But this is clearly not happening. So the pro war extremists are now extremely disappointed with Vladimir Putin. And they are calling him out directly. The question is why they are not being silenced.
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BRUNHUBER: Yes, that is the question. We will see what comes of that and what repercussions could come out of this criticism of Putin that we're not used to seeing in Russia, quite frankly. Really appreciate your analysis, Alexey Kovalev. Thank you so much.
KOVALEV: Thank you. Bye.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Updating a story we're following out of Asia. Officials in Japan have now lifted a tsunami warning for the far southwestern islands of Japan after a large earthquake struck nearby Taiwan.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.9 magnitude quake hit a rural area off the southeastern coast. Our correspondent Will Ripley shot this video as the quake struck.
We're also seeing images of partially collapsed buildings. We haven't heard any reports of casualties at this point but we will have more details as they become available, including a live report from Will in Taipei coming up shortly.
The funeral for Queen Elizabeth II is tomorrow and it's being described as the most complex security operation London has ever seen. Ahead, how those preparations are coming together as millions gather to say goodbye to the queen.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Thousands of upon thousands of people continue to wait in a long queue outside of London's Westminster Hall, hoping to view Queen Elizabeth's coffin before tomorrow's funeral.
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BRUNHUBER: This is the final full day of public viewing and it's been an extraordinary turnout, with an estimated 2 million people expected to pay their respects by 6:30 tomorrow morning. That's when the cavernous ancient hall will close to the public.
The coffin's procession to Westminster Abbey has been planned down to the finest detail and, for sheer historic pageantry, will likely eclipse anything in British history. After the funeral service at the abbey, the late monarch then travels to Wellington Arch one last time.
From there she will go back home to Windsor, where the family will privately lay her to rest.
Meanwhile global leaders continue to travel to London. U.S. President Joe Biden and the first lady Jill Biden will be among heads of state attending the funeral on Monday.
Condolences are still pouring in for the royal family. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese is one of the world leaders to sign the official condolence book at London's Lancaster House. He also met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Saturday.
While heads of state and millions of others gather in London, security teams are working around the clock to ensure the city is safe and secure during Queen Elizabeth's funeral. CNN's Nina dos Santos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): These mourners are among 2 million expected to gather in London ahead of the queen's funeral. Overnight, trains have been laid on to bring people from all over the country, desperate to catch a glimpse of the monarch before she's laid to rest in Windsor.
For the capital's authorities, balancing ceremony and safety is their toughest test yet. Thousands of officers are being deployed each day; 1,000 personnel alone will guard the line to Westminster Hall, where the queen's coffin is lying in state.
Air traffic above London was suspended while her cortege made its journey there, 1,500 soldiers on hand to help with crowd control.
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DOS SANTOS (voice-over): And this is what they've come to see, Britain's longest serving monarch leaving Buckingham Palace for the very last time, a moment in history that so many here said they just had to be part of.
With such large numbers comes high risk.
NICK ALDWORTH, FORMER JK COUNTERTERRORISM COORDINATOR: The most realistic problem that people will encounter is, quite frankly, sheer volumes of people getting squashed. However, in the U.K. our national threat level is substantial. That means a terrorist attack is likely.
We know that terrorists are attracted to crowds and we're about to generate one of the largest crowds that we can possibly ever generate in this country.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): And then there's hundreds of dignitaries to consider, from the king of Spain to France's president Emmanuel Macron. They've been urged to limit the size of their entourages. But Downing Street may make exceptions for certain guests; one of the most high profile being President Biden.
ALDWORTH: There is no doubt about it that the Americans are very demanding customers in terms of security. And we recognize where each other's boundaries are in terms of what could be out for a more (INAUDIBLE).
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Planning for protests is also inevitable. These demonstrators held up blank canvasses to highlight anti-monarchy arrests in Scotland, where Prince Andrew was heckled.
ALDWORTH: If they don't break the law it's regrettable but it needs to be allowed to take place. I've met the queen on many different occasions in many different settings. And I, for one, am certain that she would be here today, advocating for people's rights to protest.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): The crowds are still coming but Britain has been prepping for this time for many years to ensure Her Majesty's final sendoff goes as smoothly as possible -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Boarding up and stocking up in Puerto Rico as tropical storm Fiona approaches. Our Derek Van Dam is tracking it all.
Plus hundreds of thousands of people in Pakistan are living out in the open after cataclysmic floods. Flood victims are facing a new threat as disease rapidly spreads. We will have that story and more when we return. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Geological Survey says a 6.9 magnitude earthquake has struck Taiwan's southeastern coast. Images from the area show some of the devastation it has caused. And you can see here several buildings have collapsed and a train has derailed. CNN's Will Ripley is in Taipei.
Will, I know you took some video of this happening.
What more can you tell us?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We started feeling the shaking, Kim, here in Taipei late last night. And I'm up on a higher floor so this building tends to sway quite a bit back and forth through an earthquake.
But we could tell that this one was different in terms of how long the shaking was lasting and the intensity of the shaking. Then there was an aftershock earlier today a few hours ago.
At least we thought it was an aftershock; then the biggest quake so far hit, this magnitude 6.9 earthquake, where the epicenter is in southeastern Taiwan, about 200 miles from here.
And yet you can see just how much things were shaking and moving around. Obviously buildings built in recent decades in Taiwan have earthquake codes so that you are not necessarily in danger of the building collapsing over you if you are in a newer building.
But we did see some building collapses, especially closer to the epicenter of this shallow quake in a part of Taiwan that experiences a lot of earthquakes. There have been some 50 earthquakes since the initial quake last night, the 6.4.
We saw a building collapse, where four people were trapped, three are still trapped. There was a bridge collapse in a rural area. There was a train derailment that you saw pictures of, no casualties, there were about 20 people on board and they were safely evacuated. We also know that a local school was damaged. Now there was also a
tsunami warning issued for Japan's Miyagi Island in a 300-kilometer radius of this quake, a shallow quake, only 10 kilometers or 6 miles beneath the surface.
That tsunami warning you are talking about, a one-meter tsunami, so a few feet. It's not considered devastating but it could be dangerous for people walking along the coast. In addition to the potential tsunami, Japan is also experiencing the initial effects of what could be an unprecedented typhoon, according to Japan's meteorological agency.
This typhoon is basically already has dumped a huge amount of rain. In one prefecture they saw 300 millimeters in the span of a day.
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RIPLEY: That's almost 16 inches of rain, more than the entire month of September just in one day. The meteorologists are warning of gale force winds, high waves, storm surge and the like which have never been experienced before.
They are talk being a disaster on the scale of which Japan would see every few decades, potentially flooding, landslides, there already are power outages by the thousands. Hundreds of flights have been canceled and more than 2.3 million people have been asked to evacuate their homes in the southernmost main island of Japan.
It's basically the farthest south of Japan's largest islands. That is in the immediate path of the storm. So a lot happening in this region; in terms of natural disasters or at least the potential for natural disasters, people being told to brace for the worst.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Listen, great to have your reporting on the spot there in Taipei. Stay safe, Will Ripley. Appreciate it.
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BRUNHUBER: As Derek said, tropical storm Fiona may impact Haiti in the coming days at a time when humanitarian efforts are being hampered by what the U.N. called violent civil unrest.
Widespread protests have gripped the country for weeks partially due to soaring fuel prices. They say violent gangs have taken over large areas of the capital and regularly kidnap residents. This and the blockading of roads across Haiti have made it challenging for the U.N. to provide assistance.
Thousands are suffering from water shortages. Residents say protests have brought water distribution to a halt. Fears of the approaching tropical storm have caused some to rush to find water; however, many have been forced to shelter at home due to the rising crime and violence.
The catastrophic flooding in Pakistan has left more than 3 million children in need of immediate life-saving support. That's according to UNICEF, which says the situation is, quote, "beyond bleak."
Now weeks after the extreme flooding, the vast amount of stagnant water presents a new danger: the rapid spread of disease. CNN's Michael Holmes reports.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some people say the nights are the worst in this part of Pakistan. That's when the mosquitoes swarm the relief camp, where families live out in the open.
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HOLMES (voice-over): These are desperate people who have lost nearly everything in the recent floods. But the mosquitoes are still out for blood.
One man says, "Every night is like a doomsday for us. The mosquitoes are biting and the children can't sleep because of them."
Officials say hundreds of thousands of people across Pakistan are living without proper shelter, exposed to the elements after catastrophic floods that inundated more than a third of the country.
The water that started the misery now creating a new set of problems.
"There's no drinking water here," this man says. "The children are getting sick."
Daylight brings little relief, temperatures in some areas reaching 40 degrees Celsius. Under the scorching sun, the floodwaters look like an option for cooling down. But they are yet another way of transmitting disease.
One man says, "It's extremely hot. We are swamped with flood water. So we not only swim in this water, we also drink it."
UNICEF says many people in Pakistan are increasingly suffering from malaria, diarrhea, dengue fever and skin conditions as they live alongside the floodwaters, which authorities say may take three to six months to recede.
At a hospital in Karachi, a doctor says one illness in particular is surging. She says dengue is spreading fast these days. Out of every 100 patients, there are 90 suffering from dengue.
UNICEF says women and children in rural areas are particularly vulnerable to disease, with nearly 3.5 million children in need of immediate lifesaving support. But officials say getting medicine and supplies to some areas is still a challenge.
More than 1,500 people have died in these floods, according to the country's national disaster management authority, a number that could get higher if the water, which brought so much death and destruction, continues to kill in a different way -- Michael Holmes, CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: We will be back after the break.
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BRUNHUBER: You are looking at live pictures from London, where tens of thousands of people continue to wait in a long queue leading to Westminster Hall, hoping to view Queen Elizabeth's coffin before Monday's funeral at Westminster Abbey.
This is the final full day of public viewing and it's been an extraordinary turnout, with an estimated 2 million people expected to pay their respects.
Coverage of the queen's funeral begins Monday here on CNN, it starts at 5:00 am in New York. That's 10:00 in the morning in London.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Kim Brunhuber. I will be back in just a moment with more news. Please do stay with us.
