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Death Toll Tops 5,000 Amid Race to Find Survivors in Turkey- Syria Earthquake; Biden Hours Away from Delivering Annual State of the Union Address; U.S. Retrieves Debris from Suspected Spy Balloon; Crews Perform Controlled Release of Toxic Chemical in Ohio. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 07, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are 12 families, and no one managed to get out.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A disaster hit area ever more vulnerable by this earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Joe Biden's first State of the Union with Republicans in control of the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Likely an announcement to seek re-election in 2024.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was used for spy craft, and not only that, getting more details from U.S. officials about the debris.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We made it clear to China what we're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It is Tuesday, February 7, 9:00 a.m. here in London, noon across Turkey and Syria where the death toll from the devastating earthquake is now more than 4,900. The World Health Organization is warning that numbers could increase by eight fold. Could you believe.

NOBILO: Turkey reports more than 11,000 buildings have been damaged and rescue crews are digging through the rubble in a race to find survivors. There have been some successes like this 14-year-old boy pulled from the collapsed building after more than 24 hours. He's been taken to a hospital but we don't have an update on his condition yet.

FOSTER: The rain and snow have been complicating searches. And as the precipitation moves out, freezing temperatures are moving in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We barely escaped from inside the house. We have four children, and we left the house with them at the last moment. I guess there are several people trapped inside. It was a huge disaster. Our situation is very bad here. We are waiting without food or water. We are in a miserable state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Aftershocks are another major concern. The region has seen at least 100 of them measuring 4.0 or greater. Witnesses in Northwest Syria described the scene as terrifying. The U.N. estimates more than 4 million people in that part of the country were already dependent on humanitarian aid after nearly 12 years of civil war.

FOSTER: Across the region there is heartbreak like the anguish and grief from a father in Syria as he cradles his baby's lifeless body.

NOBILO: We begin with Salma Abdelaziz who is live in Istanbul. Salma, what are the urgent challenges and priorities of the rescue services desperately trying to find anyone alive that they can.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's absolutely an agonizing wait right now for families. You can see on Turkish television right now just rolling coverage, 24-hour images from the scenes of these search and rescue operations. People standing by pointing at buildings, naming relatives, multiple family members buried under there without them knowing their fate. And that is the priority here, is to get answers to these families.

This is absolutely the critical window here, right. This 24 to 48 hour period after the earthquake struck when there is still that glimmer of hope that you might find survivors. And overnight these promised expert crews from around the world started to fly into the affected area. They came with specialist equipment, with sniffer dogs, all of this desperately needed by Turkey. Of course, they simply do not have the resources to spread over this very vast area.

So you saw overnight hours, particularly outside of the major administrative cities, that people were simply on the streets made homeless and trying to survive in these freezing cold conditions. Already families complaining that they are receiving no help at all, that they have no food, no shelter, no access to any sort of aid. So this is the day when you're going to start to see those recovery operations, those aid supplies begin to disseminate across this very large area.

And again, you mentioned that possibility from some groups saying that number of dead could be multiplied by eight-fold.

[04:05:00] We already know there are some 3,000 -- over 3,000 people confirmed dead here in Turkey, some 20,000 wounded. But the fear is of course that there are thousands more trapped under the rubble. Just for context, in 1939 an earthquake of the same magnitude it Turkey, that killed 30,000 people. So, this is absolutely a moment of fear. You really feel the country collectively holding its breath, hoping that more people are found alive under the rubble.

And then further south it is even more dire. It's really hard to imagine a population more vulnerable than the Syrian people, particularly in that area. I know you mentioned some 4 million displaced people, people who had been forced out of their homes time and time again by conflict who were already fully dependent on humanitarian aid to survive. And now their situation made even more vulnerable. And in the case of Syria, you're watching the civil conflict play out in the search and rescue operations. You have different authorities on the ground, the government doesn't control all the area, the central government is sanctioned. An absolutely desperate and dire situation for an already traumatized population.

NOBILO: Salma Abdelaziz in Istanbul, thank you. We'll check back in with you shortly. And as viewers can see now on the screen, the death toll has officially topped 5,000 and that will sadly continue.

FOSTER: Yes, the rate is going up.

FOSTER: Cold wintry weather is making rescuers' jobs even more difficult in Turkey and in Syria. Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Britley Ritz. What are they contending with here -- Britley?

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we are watching that area of low pressure slowly move off and the winds are starting to switch direction. And what that's going to do is bring in significantly colder air. Our temperatures have already maxed out in some of these locations inhibiting them to warm thanks to that northerly wind. Aleppo right now at eight degrees, freezing cold temperatures. So, it's pretty close to freezing to slightly above but we are staying below normal and even colder air expected.

We are looking at satellite now showing you the water vapor, the moisture in the atmosphere. The darker purples, the oranges you're seeing that's probably snowfall or rain depending on the temperature, but a lot of that is slowly fading away. So as we clear out the skies especially through the overnight, we lose all the heat, it escapes back into the atmosphere and it gets much colder. And that's what we could expect into tomorrow morning.

Scattered showers, no showers, rain showers slowly starting to move out over the next 24 hours. You'll notice that clearing Thursday into Friday and that's again when we'll expect some of the colder air. You will see the blue starting to push further south, that cold air just sinking in. It is frigid in some cases stretching across central Turkey where we can expect temperatures to fall below zero. And that is in the morning. For Aleppo, 4 below on Thursday morning. For the afternoon high, while we make it above zero, it's still but still cold. We're still below what we should be this time of year. That magnitude 7.8 that struck February 6 early in the morning, many

aftershocks to follow. We've already been experiencing them. The Arabian plate pushing north against the Anatolian plate along that east Anatolian fault, that's where we can expect most of the aftershocks to occur.

So again, that colder air really moving in, not a good situation when we get these aftershocks. A lot of the buildings already crumbled to the ground and what's left, people homeless. So, one of the biggest things is to make sure we can keep warm -- Max, Bianca...

FOSTER: OK, Britley, thank you.

NOBILO: Meantime governments around the world are pledging support and aid to Turkey and Syria following the earthquakes. From Europe to Asia, search and rescue teams have been mobilized. The U.K. says they will send 76 specialists, while Austria will deploy 84 soldiers from its disaster relief unit.

FOSTER: The U.S. President Joe Biden is also reaffirming support to Turkey saying Washington is ready to provide any and all needed assistance. The U.N. has also mobilized an emergency response to help quake victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I extend my condolences to the families of the victims. The United Nations is mobilizing to support the emergency response and so let's work together in solidarity to assist all those hit by this disaster, many of whom were already in dire need of humanitarian aid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: For more, let's bring in CNN's Eleni Giokos whose live in Dubai this hour. Eleni, let's talk about the humanitarian and relief effort. There is some concern that because Syria is a country that is out and the diplomatic cold. President Bashar al-Assad being a political pariah, that they won't get as much support as Turkey. And it's also a more desperate situation that's been ravaged by war over the last decade. What you can tell us about the distribution of support?

[04:10:00]

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it is such an important question because most of the devastation occurred in rebel-held territory and the big concern is that already there are so many sanctions against Syria, how are you going to get goods from Damascus leading up to those regions.

I just want to say, that I just listened into the W.H.O. executive board meeting and Syria was absolutely front and center. And representatives said that it shouldn't have taken a tragedy like this for the world to remember Syria. That the international community had largely forgotten Syria. But it seems that the assistance that is being provided right now is hitting there Damascus into the most catastrophic scenarios that are playing out in Syria right now.

But the Syrian representative said that the scale of response is not enough. The W.H.O. also warned that fuel is going to be an enormous problem when it comes to providing assistance to Syria. Overall, Bianca, every second counts, every minute counts. I mean, these are critical moments in search and rescue which remains a priority. We are also hearing and W.H.O. confirmed this, of people sleeping out in the cold in Syria because there are no shelters available.

So the response to Syria has been one that perhaps is not matched to what we've seen in Turkey. And I want to talk about what we have seen coming through from Turkey. The Turkish government just said 23,060 personnel from 45 countries have now either been dispatched and are on the ground or making their way there. Turkey says 4,800 buildings from what the initial assessments are telling them is that buildings have collapsed. So we're talking about many more people possibly stuck under the rubble.

The big concern here is that the death toll is going to increase. 20,000 people are currently injured in Turkey. So, trauma response is going to be vital. Max just spoke about the U.S. response. 160 personnel heading to Turkey right now. And we've seen an enormous international reaction. It's about them getting on the ground as quickly as possible during this critical time.

NOBILO: Eleni Giokos in Dubai, thank you so much.

And as Eleni and Britley have both pointed out, the weather conditions are compounding the difficulties here and increasing the need for humanitarian aid making it harder to reach people and also making the circumstances more difficult to survive.

FOSTER: Yes, but also lots of foreign teams trying not to rush in in a disorganized way which is why they are all gathered at the airport waiting to go to where they're most needed with those particular skills. You can help as well, those earthquake victims. Do go to CNN.com/impact for a list of organizations working on the rescue and emergency relief efforts. Again, that CNN.com/impact.

NOBILO: We're now hours away from U.S. President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. It will be his first with Republicans in control of the House and a host of issues could come up in the speech. Phil Mattingly has a preview for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: For president Biden his State of the Union address is an opportunity to talk to millions of Americans in primetime, probably his highest stakes as viewed speech he's going to have throughout this entire year. It's something his advisers are keenly aware of. It's been a driving force behind hours, days, weeks, some even months of trying to put the State of the Union address together. Something that kept the president at Camp David some four or five hours longer than he was supposed to be there on Monday before returning to the White House. But when it comes to what's actually in that speech, advisers are

pretty keen to point out, is largely the same from what you've heard from the president over the course of the last several weeks, talking about very clear accomplishments his first two years. Very clear progress in the first two years. But also, clear areas where there is still more work to do, work they hope could be done in a bipartisan basis.

And that's critically important because of who will be sitting behind the president on Tuesday night. Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, a Republican for the first time since President Biden has been in office and certainly there have been no shortage of partisan brawls in the early stage of that new House Republican majority. But the president when asked what he wants to say to the American people well, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Yes, I want to talk to the American people and let them know the state of affairs, what's going on, what I'm looking forward to working on from this point on, what we've done and just have a conversation with the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now the president's advisers say there will be several key planks, there will be an economic plate, certainly a foreign policy plank. There will be a focus on police reform particularly in the wake of the death of Tyre Nichols on the count of a police beating that was seen nationwide and across the world in such a visceral fashion when that video was released.

But they also acknowledge the fact that this is very much laying the ground work for another pretty critical moment that will be happening in the weeks ahead, likely announcement to seek re-election in 2024. To some degree this is road testing a lot of the critical themes of this year, two years ahead of a presidential campaign.

[04:15:00]

The president has not officially announced yet, but every adviser I've spoken to says it's definitely going to happen and it's going to happen soon. He should probably view the State of the Union address as a tune up for that critical moment ahead that will drive the next two years.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A top White House economic adviser giving reporters a preview of the economic message during today's State of the Union address. The outgoing director for the National Economic Council Brian Deese says the speech will focus on reducing costs for the American people and contrasting the president's vision with Republicans. NOBILO: And he'll also mention possible areas of bipartisan

compromise. President Biden is expected to preview the budget that he'll send to Congress in March on the Ninth. And acknowledge continued economic anxiety that are felt by Americans.

FOSTER: Ahead of President Biden's address, the Republican House Speaker gave a speech of his own. Kevin McCarthy on Monday night, called on Mr. Biden to negotiate spending cuts as part of a deal to raise the debt limit and avoid a default. Despite a recent meeting between the two, it appears a standoff over the issue remains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): President Biden wants Congress to raise the debt limit yet again without a single, sensible change to how government spends your hard-earned money, none. Does that sound responsible to you?

The choice is clear, we can have reckless spending, or we can have responsibility. We cannot have both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The U.S. Treasury Secretary says that every member of Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling because not doing so would create a financial catastrophe, one that's entirely avoidable.

FOSTER: Janet Yellen says there are signs of real progress in the American economy and the likelihood of a recession this year is low.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: You don't have a recession when you have 500,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years. So what I see is a path in which inflation is declining significantly and the economy is remaining strong. And really that's a path that I believe is possible and it's what I'm hoping we will be able to achieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: On Wall Street stocks edged lower on Monday, the Dow dropping 35 points 0.1 percent. Investors are trying to gauge whether the Federal Reserve is serious about raising interest rates several more times this year. And here's a look at the U.S. futures as well. They are all up, but only marginally so. Looking to have a bit of a more positive day.

NOBILO: The embattled U.S. Congressman George Santos has been accused of sexual harassment by a former volunteer in his office.

FOSTER: The accuser Derek Myers has filed a police report and House ethics complaint alleging that Santos made an unwanted sexual advance during a private encounter. Myers says he declined the alleged advance and that he was denied a job at the office a week later. Santos is disputing the claim. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, can you talk to me about derrick Myers, and his alleging that you made an unwanted sexual advance towards him?

REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): It's comical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you share if you deny the claim against you?

SANTOS: Of course, I deny the claim. Let me make it clear, let me make it clear. If there was any remote any part of that that was true, he should have led with that and not begged for a job that we decided to pull from him for being accused of doing exactly what he did to us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just a follow-up -- so you categorically deny it?

SANTOS: 100 percent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Santos says that Myers was denied the job because he currently faces charges in a separate legal dispute.

Still ahead this hour, more diplomatic fallout from the Chinese balloon that flew over the United States. We'll tell you about China's latest response to America's allegations of espionage.

FOSTER: Plus, we'll explain why the intentional explosion of a derailed train in Ohio was deemed to be the safest option.

NOBILO: And we'll have the latest throughout the hour on the deadly earthquakes in Turkey and Syria as rescue crews brave the aftershocks to look for survivors.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: If you are experiencing Outlook email outages issues, you're not alone. Microsoft said that its Outlook service is facing a widespread outage which started just a few hours ago.

FOSTER: Things are suddenly making sense. The company says a recent change is contributing to the issue and they are working on potential solutions. It's unclear how widespread the outage is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We made it clear to China what we are going to. They understand our position. We're not going to back off. We did the right thing. And there's not a question of weakening or strengthening, it's just the reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: U.S. president Biden denying that American relations with China have weakened after he ordered the military to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon. This week lawmakers in Congress will likely receive intelligence briefings about the matter, it comes as the U.S. military is retrieving the balloon's debris to potentially learn more about China's surveillance methods. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is joins us now from Hong Kong. I guess it depends on what they discover from the wreckage.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I want to share with you, just fresh comments that we just got from Beijing. China now saying that debris from this balloon does not belong to the United States. This according to the ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson who spoke just in the last couple of hours. China insists that this was a civilian vessel that blew off course.

The U.S. State Department overnight said that that explanation rings hollow and it was used for spy craft. And according to the White House, the balloon -- which you see on your screen there -- had propellers. It also had an aerial rutter which gave it limited maneuverability.

Now earlier China condemned the U.S. shooting down its balloon with a U.S. fighter plane. They call that an overreaction. China also said it reserves the right to deal with a similar situation but didn't elaborate exactly what that meant.

[04:25:00]

And again, earlier today ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Mao Ning, said that the debris belongs to China. I'm going to bring up her statement for you. Now Mao Ning, she said this and the last couple of hours.

She said that the airship is China's, not the U.S.'s. She goes on to say, the United States should have handled it properly in a calm, professional, non-forceful manner, but its insistence on using force is a clear overreaction, unquote.

Now the Chinese balloon caused a political uproar in the United States. It also prompted the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel his planned February visit to Beijing. But the White House says that that visit could be rescheduled but only if the timing is right. Back to you.

FOSTER: Kristie, the plot thickens, doesn't it. Thank you so much.

STOUT: Yes, it does, thank you.

NOBILO: Well authorities in Ohio have detonated several cars in a derailed train in order to release an unstable toxic chemical that it was carrying. They say it was necessary to avoid the risk of an uncontrolled explosion, but now it's unclear when it will be safe for residents in the area to return home. CNN's Jason Carroll reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JASON CARROLL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the controlled release, as they call it, was something that was incredible and both frightening to witness. We were about a mile and a half from the scene of the explosion. We first heard it at 4:38 p.m. that's when you heard the initial boom. And then shortly thereafter that huge plume of smoke started to grow.

We got a statement minutes after the explosion from the train company in charge of all this, Norfolk Southern. They released a statement that said in part the controlled breach was successful and that some material burned off that was consistent with the models that they had put out there.

Now earlier in the afternoon, they had given us a basic walk-through of what we were to expect and what was to happen here. They had a team of experts that went out to the site of the derailment, and they planted explosive devices, small explosive devices, on five of the derailed cars. That allowed small holes in the car so some of the toxic material could seep out and then they could light that on fire.

Ohio's governor was also here. And he explained just how deadly the plume is.

MIKE DEWINE (R) OHIO GOVERNOR: Controlled release of the toxic chemicals also has the potential to be deadly if inhaled. Those in the red area, those in the red area, are facing grave danger of death if they are still in that area. Those living in the orange area are at risk of severe injury, severe injury including skin burns and serious lung damage.

CARROLL: The governor also saying that they had few good options here, but one thing that they could not allow if the trains had been allowed to explode on their own, they say the situation could have been much worse. That toxic plume would have been much bigger. And in addition to that, shrapnel would have spread over at least a mile.

Jason Carroll, CNN, East Palestine, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A new twist in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced former attorney accused of killing his wife Maggie and their youngest son Paul. The judge has allowed evidence of Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes to be included in the trial setting up what prosecutors say is a possible motive for the murders.

NOBILO: There was also a lot of discussion about a blue tarp when Murdaugh's mother caregiver took the witness stand. She says that she saw Murdaugh with a tarp and his mother's house where a blue rain jacket was also found with apparent blood splatter on it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did it look like?

MUSHELLE "SHELLY" SMITH, ALEX MURDAUGH'S MOTHER'S CAREGIVER: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did it look like?

SMITH: Like a blue tar, like a tarp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blue?

SMITH: Blue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Was it vinyl?

SMITH: It was like a tarp that you put on a car. You keep your car covered up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he say anything when he walked in?

SMITH: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he do when he walked in?

SMITH: Went upstairs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The caregiver also testified that Murdaugh appeared fidgety when he visited his parent's house on the night of the killings. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty.

FOSTER: There's a major jump in the death toll from the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. There is a rush to rescue those trapped of course before it is too late.

NOBILO: And we'll look at how both Israel and the Palestinian Authority are assisting with the earthquake rescue efforts.

[04:30:00]

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