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Major Earthquake Hits Turkey and Syria; Concerns Over Chinese Spy Balloon; The GOP Criticizes President Biden's Response on Chinese Spy Balloon; Possible Biden-Trump Rematch in 2024. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 06, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church. We continue tracking breaking news out of the Middle East this hour where a major earthquake has killed hundreds of people in Syria and Turkey and the death toll is rising quickly. Syrian state media now report at least 237 people have died in Syria and more than 600 are injured, and an unknown number could be trapped under rubble.

We just got this video of a rescuer carrying an injured child away from the rubble of damaged building. The White Helmets rescue group, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense, has declared the northwestern part of Syria a disaster area. Dozens of buildings have collapsed in both countries. At least 76 people are reported dead in Turkey and more than 400 are injured.

Emergency workers are asking for silence so they can hear if people are trapped under the rubble. The governor of Istanbul says nearly 1,000 search and rescue volunteers are heading to the impacted region. And Turkey's disaster and emergency management agency is calling for international support.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the epicenter of the 7.8 magnitude quake was in Turkey's Gaziantep province. Now, it's believed to be the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939. At least 18 aftershocks with a magnitude greater than four have been reported. And CNN's Scott McLean is following developments for us. He joins us now live from London.

So, Scott, not only was this 7.8 magnitude earthquake in central Turkey, one of the strongest in 100 years to hit the country, but it also struck when most people were sleeping. And of course, in a part of the country where buildings are particularly vulnerable and that has many worried about what the total loss of life may be. So, what more are you learning about this?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I think that the death tolls right now are the people that they have been able to count, and so you can only imagine just how high the death toll is expected to get especially when you compare it to previous disasters. The previous time that Turkey had a 7.8 was back in 1939. In that case, there were 30,000 people killed. There was also a very strong earthquake, a 7.4 back in 1999 where 17,000 people were killed. Half a million people were left homeless.

And so that's probably a better comparison because it happened more recently. In this case, some of the videos that we are seeing are pretty remarkable, straight out of a war zone, but obviously this is not that. And what I think strikes a lot of people is that you'll have one building that is seemingly completely intact or mostly intact or at least on the surface undamaged, and then one right next to it will be very badly damaged if it hasn't collapsed entirely.

And so, I want to show you one piece of video in particular from a city called Kahramanmaras. This is very near to the epicenter of the initial quake, and it just gives you a sense of the scene on the ground just before sunrise. Watch.

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MCLEAN: So, Rosemary, you hear there, you know, it sounds like they are calling out someone's name, the name of their loved one perhaps, trying to desperately find them amidst the chaos. But this video illustrates what I was mentioning, that you have some buildings that are relatively okay, relatively unscathed in the grand scheme of things. And then you have other buildings that, I mean, it's difficult to tell that there was even a building there because they are so, so flattened.

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That one looks like it was just tipped over like some kind of a toy or something like that. And this is what rescue workers are dealing with, not just in one concentrated area, but over a relatively wide swath of the country. And we're also hearing from my colleague, Eyad Kourdi, who is in Gaziantep, and he is reporting there that you have traffic jams on the way out to the airport area where it'0s much more sparsely populated, where people are trying to get out to.

You have long lineups of people trying to get gas, trying to get any supplies that they can, imagining that they're likely going to be living in their cars for the foreseeable future if their homes are damaged or uninhabitable at the moment.

I should also mention that after that 1999 earthquake, Turkey certainly learned a lesson about earthquake-ing and trying to get buildings up to standard. And so, they have been trying to tear down buildings that are not up to building code and rebuild them in an earthquake proof way. But this is a very slow, very expensive process that's been taking place over the last few decades, but I think we are finding out very quickly in a tragic way which of those buildings, obviously, were up to code and which ones, frankly, we're not. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yeah. And that is exactly the concern, isn't it, as we were looking at that horrifying video. I mean, as you say, you know, more than likely those are relatives calling out the names of loved ones. We don't know that for sure, but it is cold, it is wet. So, Scott, talk to us about the access that Turkey has in terms of earth moving equipment because these are the critical hours, aren't they, and speed is of the essence when you're trying to find survivors under the rubble.

MCLEAN: Yeah. So, I'll just tell you what we're seeing in the videos that we have from Eyad in Gaziantep. One of the videos showed, you know, large pieces of equipment trying to move rubble out of the way, but remember this is a delicate operation, if in fact there is anyone trapped under the rubble. But frankly, in some of these videos that we're seeing, it is difficult to imagine, frankly, how anyone could have possibly survived something like that.

In some cases, it looks like the building is just completely pancaked onto itself, you know, floor after floor. In other places, it looks like there may be space where perhaps someone could be trapped underneath, and we're also seeing some rescue efforts. Some people, you know, trying to pull people out, but putting themselves in an enormous amount of danger as well.

So, the crawling into spaces where you have a slab of concrete on top of you trying to get to anyone who might be under there without disturbing the overall structural stability of this disaster site. And also keep in mind, that they are also feeling tremors and likely will for the coming hours, maybe even coming days, given an earthquake of this magnitude. 7.8 is tied for the strongest earthquake on record in Turkey.

They've been keeping detailed records for about the last hundred years. And so, this part of Turkey especially lies at the intersection of a few fault lines and so they're used to some level of seismic activity, but nothing, nothing like this, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Just horrifying. Scott McLean, joining us live from London who will continue to join us throughout the next few hours. So, CNN supervising meteorologist, Brandon Miller, joins me now in the studio. And, you know, we were just discussing with Scott of the fact that you're talking about a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. People were asleep at 4:00 or 4:15 in the morning.

The structures are very vulnerable in that part of the world even though an effort we heard from Scott there has been an effort to knock some of those buildings down. But talk to us about what this will mean in terms of a death toll, the lives lost because we are only counting those that we know of.

BRANDON MILLER, CNN SUPERVISING METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Sadly, it's going to go up, we know, as we get further into the day, time. We know that, you know -- this is the main city that they are in right now. As we go farther up into the northeast where this epicenter, you know, we think of an epicenter as a point on a map. It's not. This strike -- this strike slip fault that occurred went for hundreds of kilometers.

You can actually see the map here. I can show you what's on my computer on the screen here. This fault, this little star right here is what we call the epicenter, but the slip of this fault went for hundreds of kilometers. So, you know, 150 miles maybe. These are the areas that felt 7.8 magnitude shaking. That is extremely

violent shaking that will take down even big buildings. You heard Scott say they're trying to tear down some old ones and build more earthquake proof. You know, we talk about that a lot. You know, I deal with weather primarily. We talk about that with hurricanes, making something hurricane proof.

You can do that to a point. After a while, it's a category three or category four or category five hurricane, you just can't do much to prepare for that.

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A 7.8 earthquake, you know, if you are truly near the epicenter where that fault is shaking and striking at its worse, there's not much you can do. And sadly, the pictures we're seeing are from these buildings that are probably some of the best in southern Turkey in northern Syria. You got to think these are the areas that have the capabilities to get the pictures out in the first hours after an earthquake has occurred.

You get some of these places, you saw on the map how that, you know, the epicenter of that slip went for a hundred miles. That's going up into the mountains, more rural, rugged terrain. You're going to have landslides, you know. It's raining, we've seen these pictures too. We know that there's more rain and even snow on the way. That's going to make things slide even more when you get into the terrains, 2,000, 3,000 feet up into the mountains.

That's certainly something that concerns me. You mentioned the death toll. One thing we can look at the United States Geological Survey runs models when these big earthquakes happen. And these models take into effect the earthquake, the shaking, of it, where it occurred, the vulnerability of the structures, how deep it was, how many people are there, and it runs quite detailed models so we can get an idea in these first hours what kind of damage to expect.

And sadly, this pager is what it's called, the green, yellow and red based on how bad. And this one is well into the red range. It's showing the most likelihood of potentially over 1,000 fatalities. And that shouldn't be a surprise from what Scott told us from the ones in recent history that we're not even this strong. You know, a 7.0, a 7.5. It doesn't sound like a lot to go up to 7.8, but it is. It's significantly more shaking and this we saw over a really wide area.

CHURCH: And as you've been talking to us, we've been looking at these live pictures and you're seeing people basically using their bare hands to lift debris and try to get to those survivors that are perhaps under this rubble. And as you mentioned, this is cold weather. It's wet. The weather is not helping in this effort and these are critical hours ahead, aren't they?

MILLER: Correct. And looking ahead to tonight, you know, people are not going to want to be in their buildings, if they're lucky enough to have one standing because we know that aftershocks are still occurring, they will continue to occur. We've seen over 20 of them. You know, as time goes on, they lessen usually in intensity and in frequency. But there are still going to be, you know, we call them aftershocks, but they are earthquakes, you know,

The 6.7 aftershocks were just another 6.7 earthquake, and we could easily see another one 5.5, 6.5, in the coming hours and even the coming days. So, people aren't going to want to sleep in a building. They're going to want to be outside. That's the first thing you hear people say. We felt the shaking and they ran outside.

So, you're not going to want to go inside. You stay outside and the temperature is going to be, one, two degrees celsius, falling even below freezing tonight. Rain is going to change to snow. Those are not conditions that people want to be out in.

CHURCH: Yeah.

MILLER: And if you're lucky enough to be inside, you probably don't have power. So, you're not going to have heat in these conditions. So, you know, its never great weather, you know, in this part of the world in January and February, but right now it's particularly cold.

CHURCH: So terrifying for all of those people involved, particularly if they have a family member who is missing. Brandon Miller, thank you so much for talking with us. Of course, you're going to stick around so that we can chat with you a little more.

Time for a quick break now though and do stay with CNN for more on this devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. We're back in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Video shows a survivor pulled from the rubble after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit Turkey in more than a century. More than 500 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in Turkey and in neighboring Syria. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a magnitude of 7.8. At least 18 aftershocks with a magnitude over four have been recorded since that initial quake. Turkey is calling for international assistance and has deployed more than 1,000 search and rescue workers.

And we are learning critical new details about when U.S. officials became aware of the suspected Chinese spy balloon last week and when they alerted President Biden. Days before it was shot down off the South Carolina coast, it was spotted around Alaska when it began drifting toward the U.S. mainland.

Officials say they realized it was a situation which required the president's attention. And he ultimately ordered the military to shoot it down once it was safe to do so. The Navy is now trying to recover the balloons remnants. A resident in South Carolina filmed uniformed men inspecting possible debris on a boat, but CNN cannot confirm that it came from the balloon. Well, China's defense ministry has accused the U.S. of overreacting by

shooting the balloon down and says China, quote, "reserves the right to use necessary means to deal with similar situations." So, let's get more now on China's reaction from our Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang. Good to see you, Steven. So, China says the U.S. over reacted to this balloon hovering over its territory by shooting it down. What else are Chinese officials saying about this, and what would China have done had this been an American balloon hovering over its territory?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, Rosemary, that's one (inaudible), it's quite ironic that China is now accusing the U.S. of overreacting given Beijing's usual obsession with sovereignty and national security. But their response so far though, probably not entirely surprising given they do have a domestic audience to address.

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As why you mentioned the defense ministry statement and the latest messaging coming from their vice minister of foreign affairs, Xie Feng, who is a top candidate to become the next Chinese ambassador to the U.S. And he summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires here in Beijing on Monday morning, repeating the government's protesting message and saying the U.S. decision to shoot down a quote, unquote, "civilian vessel" violated international practice.

And of course, again, said China reserves to take further actions to defend its interests. But the thing is, despite this rhetoric so far, very few people are expecting immediate aggressive Chinese military actions against the U.S. at least at this juncture. And part of that is also being reflected on China's very much government-controlled and censored social media.

Of course, we have seen some nationalistic feedback and sentiment, but nothing seems to be reaching a fever pitch as we have previously seen in similar incidents when there were (inaudible) between the two governments such as when a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet in the South China Sea back in 2001.

So, despite the public posturing from Beijing, there still seems to be some hope if you will that they may want to turn the page over as quickly as possible as well to maintain communication with the U.S. to really bring this relationship back on track, which of course was the purpose of that highly anticipated visit by U.S. Secretary of State Blinken until this incident, which she had to postpone a trip.

So, that's really a part of this fiasco, Rosemary. It's very illustrating of this vicious cycle we are in, not to mention that long term concern I mentioned that given this incident, the Chinese military may now be incentivized to shoot down U.S. reconnaissance assets in this region, especially unmanned craft or vessels. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, Steven Jiang, joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks.

Well, the suspected spy balloon is down, but the issue remains aloft for Republicans on Capitol Hill. A source says House Republicans may vote on a resolution condemning President Biden for taking too long to bring it down. The resolution could pass as early as Tuesday, the same day Mr. Biden will deliver his state of the union address. Here is more reaction from lawmakers.

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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I want to start betting something that I don't do very often, which is commending Joe Biden for actually having the guts to shoot this down. That was the right thing to do. That is absolutely what the president should have done. Unfortunately, he didn't do that until a week after it entered U.S. airspace.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): They are saying we should have shot down the balloon the minute we saw it. I would use two words in answering these GOP criticisms. They are premature and they are political.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Presidents have the ability to go before a camera, go before the nation, and basically explain these things early on. And his failure to do so, I don't understand that. I don't understand why he wouldn't do that. And that is the beginning of dereliction of duty, and the second is, you have to act swiftly on these things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Caroline Heldman is a Democratic strategist and professor of critical theory and social justice at Occidental College. She joins us from Los Angeles. And Alice Steward is a CNN political commentator and Republican strategist. She is with us from New Hampshire. Welcome to you both.

CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good to see you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. So, let's start with the shooting down of China suspected spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. Republicans say President Biden took too long to shoot it down even though the Pentagon advised him to wait until the balloon was over water due to public safety concerns. So, Alice, why are Republicans politicizing this decision?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Rosemary, a lot of Republicans that we're hearing from and many that I have spoken with, this is not about politics, this is about national security. And the question many continue to have is, what took so long? And not only that, we are seeing that across the globe, looking at international headlines for this, that the high-altitude spying sparks a new low in U.S.-China relations.

Look, it is unconceivable to hear China now say that what the United States did in response was overreacting and provocative, when in fact what is provocative is sending a spy drone to any portion of the United States, let alone across the entire country, and not expect some kind of reaction and some kind of consequence for those actions.

And, look, what I'm also hearing from many Republicans in Washington D.C., is they are hearing from their constituents, Republicans and Democrats were outraged also, Rosemary, at the length of time it took for action to be taken. And is also putting a new spotlight on the dangers that China poses on many fronts, not just in terms of their surveillance and their spying capabilities.

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But with their human rights abuses and with the many of the actions they're doing across the globe, not the least of which is their failure to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. So, this just yet again puts a new spotlight on the many dangers that we face with China.

CHURCH: Caroline, your reaction to House GOP members pushing to vote on a resolution Tuesday condemning President Biden's handling of the suspected Chinese spy balloon crisis. What do you say?

HELDMAN: Well, I say it is hyperbolic, in terms of national security threat, this is a very minor threat. Yes, it's brazen, but anyone in intelligence can tell you that they can get better information using satellites, spy satellites and variety of other sources. This was absolutely brazen, but not big threat to security.

And at the end of the day, Republicans are making hay out of this and I don't think we should be politicizing anything with China. I think Alice is right in the sense that we have to be concerned about human rights abuses. I would add to that, certainly anti-competitive practices. The fact that they are shipping, you know, chemicals to Mexico to make fentanyl that's killing 100,000 Americans a year. The situation in Taiwan.

We really don't need partisan politics driving our foreign policy with one of our major trading partners and second biggest economic superpower in the world. We don't need this person baloney that has entered the national political sphere because this is not a national security concern.

CHURCH: All right, let's turn now to new polling from ABC News and the Washington Post that shows most Americans would be unhappy if either Joe Biden or Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Sixty-two percent dissatisfied with the thought of another Biden term, compared to 56 percent dissatisfied with the thought of another Trump presidency.

But when it comes to the primaries, Trump is ahead of the pack with only Ron DeSantis nipping at its heels. We're about 12 months (inaudible) from the start of those primaries. So, Alice, this really -- is it just, do you think, a two-man race on the Republican side between Trump and DeSantis? And which of them do you think will get the nomination, if that is indeed the case?

STEWART: Well, Rosemary, I can tell you, having worked on five presidential campaigns on the Republican side, I can say as you know, it's very early. And we only have one other candidate that has really signaled that they will get in, and that is former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. CHURCH: Right, but she's only got about 3 percent support. So, she

really doesn't factor in, does she?

STEWART: Exactly. No. Not at this point, but again, it's very early. But what we're seeing and hearing from Republican, rational Republicans anyway, and high-level donors to Republican candidates, is that while they appreciate and are thankful for what Donald Trump did to solidify the base and bring in a lot of voters that have not been involved in politics for many years, it's time to find someone that represents his policies, but is not quite as toxic as -- and provocative as he is in politics.

And many are ready to turn the page, and many are looking at the way to thread the needle with how to keep his supporters on board, but also broaden the electorate to many that have left the Republican Party due to Donald Trump. So, I think there are several candidates out there that can do that and find that magic formula to broaden the electorate, and also make this about the policies that are really representative of this entire country.

And I do believe that many are frustrated with the current president, and we're seeing in poll, the Washington Post/ABC poll shows that 40 percent of Americans say that their financial situation is worse than it was two years ago and they are not satisfied with the job that President Biden is doing, with just a 40 percent approval. So, we're seeing people across the country are ready to move past --

CHURCH: Both.

STEWART: -- President Biden, and I do think that a Republican has a great chance.

CHURCH: So, Caroline, while overall voters appear tired of Joe Biden, it is actually worth noting that most polls show his approval rating with Democrats is in the 80s. But if the party is trying to appeal to all voters, who else might better excite American voters in 2024? Or is Joe Biden the man?

HELDMAN: Well, I think Joe Biden is the man because he is the incumbent and I, you know, Alice, I think it's a little wishful thinking that Donald Trump won't be the nominee. I hope you're right in the sense that I care about democracy, and so I want a candidate on the Republican side who is going to care about that too and I think Donald Trump on January 6th demonstrated that he does not, at least not to my standards.

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But I think this is the most likely matchup. Now, DeSantis might give Donald Trump a run for his money, but there is nobody on the Democratic side. There are plenty of great candidates, right, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, go down the list. But I think at the end of the day, we

just haven't seen an incumbent president step aside. Power doesn't give up power. And I don't anticipate that Joe Biden will do that.

In fact, I think his State of the Union address is coming Tuesday will be the kickoff to his 2024 run.

CHURCH: We'll see. Caroline Heldman, Alice Stewart, many thanks to you both for joining us appreciate it.

HELDMAN: Thanks, Rosemary.

STEWART: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Absolutely. And still to come. More on our breaking news this hour. A major earthquake kills hundreds of people in Turkey and in neighboring Syria. We'll have details just ahead.

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CHURCH: We want to return now to our breaking news. A major earthquake has rocked Turkey and Syria and rattled other countries across the region. Syrian state media report at least 237 people have been killed in Syria and at least 284 are dead in Turkey where the epicenter was located. Thousands of people have been injured. The quake caused hundreds of buildings to collapse and now urgent work is underway to reach people trapped beneath the rubble.

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck before daybreak. Since then, at least 18 aftershocks have been reported. And joining me now from Turkey near where this quake hit, journalist Eyad Kourdi. Eyad, these are critical hours of course as search and rescue teams searched try desperately to find survivors in the wake of this 7.8 magnitude quake. What more are you learning about those efforts and the situation on the ground right now?

[02:35:04]

EYAD KOURDI, JOURNALIST, GAZIANTEP TURKEY (via telephone): Greetings, Rosemary. I was just in Gaziantep City, I went to a neighborhood where a building collapse that I've seen at least four ambulances, a lot of volunteers from the Turkish Red Crescent, from the Civil Defense and they were trying to save some people who were under the rubbles. The earthquake -- the reaction is very quick. But we keep hearing about reports of people being stuck on the rubbles in other cities in the south of Turkey.

And they are still like waiting returns and the (INAUDIBLE) is trying to do as much as I can. I would say this is like -- I mean, Turkey is not strange to earthquakes. But this is by far the strongest one since decades. And people have very bad memories about previous -- especially like people who are -- who are around 40s. They do remember an earthquake happened 24 years ago and they just -- those memories came back to them.

There's a lot of fighting here. People -- a lot of people are in schools, like in my family, for example. We are -- they are staying in school. A lot of people are going to open areas. For example, in the city where I live, the highway to the airport, which is like out of the urban city is fully filled with traffic jam because people are trying to get as much away as possible from buildings. I've seen -- I'm now actually near Nordag (ph). I'm about three kilometers to the north of the epicenter. And I've seen a lot of cars like hundreds of cars moving away from Gaza (INAUDIBLE) and I haven't seen that highway this crowd ever like even in during vacations like it's never this crowded. Even like gas stations are crowded. Many markets on those highways are -- like I went to one of them and bought some water and snacks and they were almost fully empty, like 90 percent of the roofs were not -- percent of the shelves were empty.

It's very frightening. And in fact, actually just like minutes ago, I'm in an open space on the highway. And I felt like an aftershock. And we were like -- I was in a car and we had to stop on the side to wait for the aftershock to end which lasts for like 10 seconds. But it was really, really strong.

CHURCH: Yes. I can -- I can understand how terrifying that would be. And of course, we can all understand why people would be trying to flee the area. As you've been speaking to us, we've been looking at these pictures that show a lot of people actually using their bare hands to try to get to those people under the rubble. We've only seen just a very few heavy earthmoving equipment in the area.

Is that the case? It's always difficult when you've only got a very small framework to look at, but what sort of heavy earthmoving equipment is available for this rescue effort?

KOURDI: I live in one of the biggest cities in the south, which is Gaza. So, at least I can speak to what I've seen, like in the area where I saw the building collapsed, there were a couple of heavy weight vehicles, they were trying to pick up the bubbles and they were -- I would say approximately 16 between rescuers and Civil Defense workers working there. So, in Gaza, as far as I know, they have like good equipment for this.

But I -- like I don't know about other cities and I have been hearing that there were some -- there was some -- a lot of need for more equipments in other cities, but in the same time, it depends on the city itself. So, in Turkey -- I mean, you build and it has to be like, qualified to be able to resist earthquakes. And those new buildings, you see them more in like more bigger cities.

So, I would assume probably in smaller cities around Gaza and (INAUDIBLE) they have been affected even more because their buildings are probably older. But in general, in Gaza (INAUDIBLE) where I went there were heavy equipments. I don't know about the other cities, actually.

CHURCH: All right. Eyad Kourdi, thank you so much for talking with us and we will of course, join you again and just will probably next hour. Thank you again. And we're joined now by CNN Senior International Producer Gul Tuysuz in eastern ball. So, Gul, these next few hours are of course critical for search and rescue operations as they try to find survivors under the rubble there.

[02:40:03]

What can you tell us about earthquakes that have hit Turkey in the past? How quickly were they able to get to people and get them out?

GUL TUYSUZ, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCER: What Rosemary, Turkey's psyche really was impacted by the huge earthquake that took place in 1999. And ever since that, it is something that the Turkish public, the Turkish government has been gearing up for. The question has always been, when is the next big earthquake going to hit? And will we be more prepared?

And I think we're seeing in the response to this one, that there is a plan, unlike the '99 earthquake which was a complete failure in terms of the government response. And this time, we're seeing mobilization of rescue teams, of ambulances, even here in Istanbul we can see that ambulances and emergency vehicles are making their way across the Bosphorus Bridge here into Asia to drive into these locations in the southeast of the country.

Since 1999, Turkey has been trying to update its building code, it's gone through huge urban renewal projects that have aimed to sort of take the old stock of housing and renew it and put it up to earthquake code. It hasn't, of course, been a quick process. So, there's still a lot of very old buildings that are out there. As Eyad, your previous guest mentioned, it's something that has definitely taken place in some of the bigger cities.

But not everything has been up to code now. And it's been an ongoing process, but for sure, in Turkey, the response of the government and, you know, government institutions to respond to an earthquake are a very integral part of the psyche that has traumatized the Turkish public since the '99 earthquake. I've been to the aftermath of -- year for '99 and I've been at earthquakes in Turkey after, you know, after earthquakes like that.

And the response this time is wide. But of course, this is a huge area where the -- that we're talking about. More than 10 provinces have been impacted. And it's going to be a very difficult process. And there's going to be really tough days ahead for Turkey. Both in terms of the human loss as well as the economic one. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, indeed. And of course, shelter food, water for those people who survive but no longer have homes to live in. Gul Tuysuz, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

And CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now live from London with more. So, Salma, this earthquake has had, of course, a devastating impact on Turkey and Syria in terms of lost lives in these collapse buildings. But it was also felt across the region in a number of countries. What is the latest on all of this?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean, a huge earthquake. And I know you just heard from my colleagues there from Gul and Eyad about situation in Turkey. I want to update you, Rosemary, specifically on Syria where Syrian officials say according to state media that over 230 people have been killed, over 600 people injured. They're naming the provinces that are most affected as Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Tartus. The Syrian Defense Ministry has already started as mobilizing across the country, all provinces to put any equipment and resources that they can towards these affected areas. But of course, Rosemary, when you were talking about Syria, this is a very different situation to Turkey. This is a country that has suffered war now for nearly 12 years. That means many of the country's institutions, its infrastructure is absolutely destroyed and devastated, has not been rebuilt.

You heard from Gul there, how Turkey has been working to bring its buildings up to code. Well in Syria, these are buildings that have been devastated by bombardment and shelling again for over a decade now. In the response across the country, it's not going to be even, Rosemary. You have to remember that Idlib province in particular in the north that is still rebel-held, rebel-controlled, you can expect there and you know we have video that it will be mostly volunteer forces trying to pull people out from under the rubble.

So, absolutely devastating to think of a country where families have suffered war and I wondered this was my first thought seeing those videos. Those families, did they think it was a bomb or did they think it was an earthquake? An already traumatized country, traumatized country rather, with very little resources, very little equipment now facing this major disaster, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. Absolutely. Salma Abdelaziz joining us live from London. Many thanks.

Well, still to come. A new move by the U.S. and its allies to cut off Russia's ability to fund its war in Ukraine. The details just ahead.

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CHURCH: There's a new effort to limit Russia's ability to make money and finance its war. The U.S. and other G7 nations along with the European Union and Australia have now agreed to place a price cap on refined petroleum products such as diesel and fuel oil. CNN's Clare Sebastian has details.

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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is likely one of the last shipments of Russian diesel to Europe. 40,000 tons arriving in northern Germany last month. Russian diesel imports to the E.U. hit a record in December as the continent race to build up supplies.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: And we've put in place the strongest sanctions ever.

SEBASTIAN: Three months after an E.U. embargo on seaborne crude oil from Russia, along with a price cap mechanism designed to allow non- E.U. countries to keep buying it under a certain price. The same thing is now happening with refined oil product. In Russia's case the biggest diesel fuel oil, NAFTA, a product widely used in making plastics.

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: The aim is to stabilize global energy prices and reduce Russian revenues.

SEBASTIAN: In terms of that first goal, so far so good. Crude oil prices have not shot up since those December sanctions.

SEBASTIAN (on camera): This may be harder though with oil products. Take diesel for example. Now Russia is one of the world's biggest exporters of diesel and last year 63 percent of those exports went to E.U. countries according to Kpler. Now when it comes to crude oil, Russia has been selling a lot of barrels that used to go to Europe to India and China. The problem though, with diesel and other oil products, is that China and India are big exporters in themselves.

RICHARD BRONZE, CO-FOUNDER AND HEAD OF GEOPOLITICS, ENERGY ASPECTS: So, Russia has to look elsewhere. Places like Africa, parts of the Middle East will be able to absorb some Russian diesel, some Russian oil products, but not the kind of volumes that Europe has traditionally taken. Russia will have to and is already having to offer big discounts to try and find those buyers and to cover the additional costs of cargoes moving much longer distances.

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SEBASTIAN (voice over): Diesel prices including Russian diesel have fallen slightly since their summer peaks, partly because of those Russian discounts. Experts say the price of non-Russian diesel will likely rise though, over the next few months as current stocks run out. And Chinese demand rises making the market much more competitive.

And what about that second goal?

YELLEN: Reduce Russian revenues.

BRONZE: I think overall, this will hurt Russia, I think it'll be selling less. And I think it'll be having to offer really heavy discounts. But the more that global prices go up, the more revenue it will still be securing.

SEBASTIAN: It will take several months, experts say to tell if this delicate operation has worked, trying to punish a top energy producer and refiner without causing a painful ripple effect through global markets.

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SEBASTIAN: So, Rosemary, this is day one and there is a grace period until April 1st for cargoes that were purchased and loaded before the February 5th deadline for those sanctions to kick in. But it is clear that while the crude oil market has become used to sanctions over the years think Iran, think Venezuela, this is something pretty new for the refined products market. And we may see more disruption here than we've seen with crude oil.

Diesel, for example, used not only as sort of in cars, it will not only affect prices at the pump, but things like agricultural equipment, industrial machinery, all kinds of things. So, it could well feed into inflation just at the time when we're seeing signs that that might have peaked.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian for that report. Appreciate it.

Well, still to come. Our continued breaking news coverage. Rescue work is underway in Turkey and Syria after a major earthquake hit the region just hours ago. We will have the latest update.

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CHURCH: Back to our breaking news we're following this hour. A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake has hit near the Turkish-Syrian border, killing hundreds and injuring thousands in both countries. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake was centered in Turkey's Gaziantep province and was followed by powerful aftershocks. Turkey's vice president says at least 284 people have been killed there and more than 2000 injured.

In Syria, at least 237 deaths have been reported so far and more than 600 injured. The Syrian American Medical Society says their hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.

And residents near a train derailment in Ohio have been told they could be arrested if they refuse to leave their homes. On Sunday evening, Governor Mike DeWine asked people to get away from the burning rail cars. There is a fear that the rail cars could explode and spread deadly shrapnel. A sudden release of dangerous gas is also a possibility. Police estimate about 500 people are still waiting it out at home in Ohio.

Well, thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news after the break. You're watching CNN.

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