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Casualties Soaring in Turkey-Syria Earthquake; Downing Street: Zelenskyy to Visit U.K. Today; Joe Biden's State of the Union Address. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 08, 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 from all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is in that position there that they believe that they may, just may, have some sign of life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just up there, a 12-year-old boy been found healthy in the rubble and the rescues are having to dig their way in.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict gets us nowhere. Today we're in the strongest position in decades to compete with China or anyone else in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost nothing but net essentially, the entire arena erupted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It felt like I was, like, sitting on top of the arena today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: It is Wednesday, February 8th, 12 noon in Turkey and Syria were rescue workers are racing against the clock to find survivors of Monday's devastating earthquake. The death toll has now officially topped 9,400, and there are growing fears that number could still rise dramatically. UNICEF says that the quake may have killed thousands of children.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency, and he's expected to visit disaster areas near the earthquake's epicenter.

Emergency workers from around the world are descending on the region. This crew is from France. NATO is sending aid along with the U.S., Mexico, India, Pakistan and many other countries.

Northwest Syria has especially hard hit. Heavy equipment is in short, supply leaving people to dig through the rubble with their bare hands to find survivors. The Red Crescent is calling for other countries to lift sanctions and allow in international aid. It's also set up more than 126 temporary shelters to house displaced families. And amid all the destruction, there are signs of hope. Rescue crews pulled these two young siblings from a collapsed building on Tuesday.

And this was the scene in Idlib, Syria, where crowds cheered the White Helmets for saving this family.

Our Becky Anderson is in Turkey and has been on the ground witnessing these rescue efforts, the devastation, and the hope. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR CONNECT THE WORLD (voice-over): From underneath the destruction, a momentary sigh of relief. The search and rescue teams find a sign of life will sifting through the rubble. But seconds later, another lifeless body is found.

Monday's devastating quake has left an ever-growing death toll, and it's thousands. Leaving many families across Syria and Turkey without homes and without loved ones.

As the snow falls, grief is being compounded with freezing conditions. Huddled around a strong fire, survivors worry about friends and relatives still trapped under the rubble. Forbidden by authorities to intervene, Murat Alinak says he just wants to help recover his relatives to give them a proper sendoff.

MURAT ALINAK, QUAKE SURVIVOR (through translator): We are under the snow without a home, without anything. We can overcome this. We can fast for 40 days and still overcome this. But let us recover for the funerals.

ANDERSON (voice-over): International aid has poured in from all corners of the world. France, Mexico, Germany and India are some at the countries who pledged to step up efforts. Planes carrying supplies from Iran and Iraq also arriving in Damascus on Tuesday. As C-17 cargo planes from the UAE flew quickly to the quake-stricken area.

UMUR ZAMANOGLU, TURKISH SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM LEADER: Now, 25,000 of the Turkish search and rescue crew is on the mission, and more estimated 5,000 people is coming from other country.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Back in Gaziantep, survivors at this gas station are desperately trying to fill up and find safety away from the destruction.

[04:05:00]

Barters line stretched throughout the airport, with cancellations expected for at least three days.

And Turkey's Erdogan declaring a state of emergency for the next three months. Passengers slowly resigned for the fact that there may be no escape anytime soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: And our Becky Anderson is on the ground in Turkey. Becky, we've heard so many times from many people that every minute counts. We're now three days in rescue efforts that you're witnessing are still underway, there's still hope that people can be found.

ANDERSON (on camera): Yes, there is still hope. And where there is hope, there is an enormous effort going on. I'm going to stand away from the cameras, so Sabeel the cameraman can zoom in and so that you can get a sense, Bianca, what is going on behind me.

We know, just some hours ago, that these rescue workers made contact with a man and his two sons, who are buried underneath that rubble. They were in contact, can you believe it, buy mobile phone. So what they're doing at the moment is trying to ensure that they can get to that family, if they're still alive, and let's hope that they are. But they've got to do in a painstaking and meticulous way, because they could potentially still be people that are alive beneath them. They're calling for silence again. So, we're just going to go silent for you. Bianca, they are very, very close to the area in this apartment building where that family is situated. Let's just listen in.

(SPEAKING TURKISH LANGUAGE)

ANDERSON: They're asking for us all to kneel down.

(Rescuers working to pull the family from the rubble.)

ANDERSON: And for our viewers who may just be joining us, this is the scene in Gaziantep, where an apartment building collapsed in the morning of Monday, the 10th of February. It is now noon on Wednesday the 12th. The rescuers here are hoping they have made contact with a family. They've been under this rubble for more than 50 hours. They know this family, what they're like, about four hours ago.

[04:10:02]

So, this is now an incredibly intense moment. As these rescues tried work out what to do next.

They know they are close. This was an eight-story building which is completely collapsed. They've gotten to the floor above where they believe this family is situated. They were on the fourth floor of this building when it collapsed. This it's a local rescue team, mostly, let's be clear, volunteers who live in this city, people who may have lost their homes. They are making this building who are now helping try and extract family.

And as we watch this scene, sadly have to get you up to speed on what the death toll is across this region. It is now 9,500 people who have lost their lives, and tens of thousands more who are injured. UNICEF today saying at least thousands of children will have lost their lives. We are seeing incredible stories, rescue stories. So, there is still hope.

Bianca, that's the story here in west Gaziantep. This was an area called Rehani (ph) to this area, the president of Turkey will visit today. This is very close to the epicenter of that massive earthquake on Monday. They're asking for silence again.

NOBILO: And we'll return to Becky Anderson, who is in Turkey witnessing what we can only imagine is a situation being replicated in the hundreds if not thousands of areas across Turkey and Syria. And the situation in northwest Syria is especially dire, and the death toll there is climbing too.

CNN Salma Abdelaziz is following developments from Istanbul, Turkey. Salma, we've heard so many times that because the country's been ravaged by war, and because the difficulty of access that Turkey in the immediate and in the medium-term is going to need much more support than it currently has. What are you hearing about the situation there?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Bianca, I just want to start by explaining to you where I am. I am at this buzzing distribution center here in the center of Istanbul, where hundreds of volunteers and municipal workers are packing boxes filled with a -- filled with basic supplies, to help those people on the frontline. Everything you're looking at, donations, from individuals, from businesses, from people who are looking at images, looking at these search and rescue operations, seeing the devastation and the many millions affected in that area that you, saw were Becky Anderson was and wanted to help.

Just look at how quickly they're trying to pack these boxes. This one is filled with baby bottles. I mean, this looks like chaos, but this is a really organized operation. You got cooking oil here. This one center has been able to send something like over 50, 18 wheelers, huge trucks to those front areas. They've been able to send, you know, sanitation equipment, food supplies, diapers for babies, you know, anything, blankets, clothes, what people might need.

Because what we're looking at right now -- and I'm just going to keep showing you just how quickly people are putting things into boxes.

[04:15:00]

They're loading them up, they're, you know, sticking the stairs on them on labels. And then putting them into crates, and they're getting loaded immediately onto these trucks, straight to the disaster zone as quickly as they can get. I mean, it is exactly an extraordinary effort to see this huge hangar just transform. Again, we're going to keep moving around here. Showing you a little bit. Again, it looks chaotic, but this is a very well-run machine here.

And all of this aid, again, going to the many millions affected. Yes, Turkey is receiving help from dozens of countries. Yes, international help is pouring into that earthquake zone. But there is a sense of real community here. Turks want to help Turks. They want to help each other. Many families here know families, know friends who are in that earthquake zone. Many people know friends who are still looking for missing loved ones. So, this give them a sense of something they can do, a sense of camaraderie with those up front. And we've seen those pictures of course, Bianca, people saying that

the government can't reach all areas, that they're simply not enough resources to stretch across that huge quake zone. So, this help here you're looking at, these volunteers, that is absolutely critical. There can never be enough help when you're talking about such an unprecedented disaster.

NOBILO: Thank you very much.

Johan Mooij is the Syrian response director for World Vision International. Thank you so much for joining the program. As Salma, our reporter, was just mentioning, we've heard reports about the difficulties of humanitarian groups trying to access areas in Syria, and they say that's for political reasons obviously rather than humanitarian regions. How much is this dire humanitarian situation be further complicated by the political situation in Syria?

JOHAN MOOIJ, SYRIA RESPONSE DIRECTOR, WORLD VISION: Well, World Vision has been working in this area for the last seven or eight years, and it is a difficult area for humanitarians. But over the years, we've kind of -- we've learned to steer away from political issues and focus on humanitarian assistance. And this has been rather successful. But for us the advantage is we have staff, we have offices inside Syria.

NOBILO: And so, what are you hearing from your staff that are inside Syria at the moment about what they're witnessing and what is needed most urgently?

MOOIJ: Well, like in Turkey, people have lost their homes. Their homes are damaged. And lots of people live in tents. And their biggest need is the restoration of the electricity lines, the water systems, the sewer systems, and in the meantime, we provide shelter and warmth. It's very cold and rainy and it snows now and then. It is a terrible situation indeed. An area that was affected by a war for over 12 years.

NOBILO: And can you explain to our viewers around the world, who obviously are familiar with the war, but about the impact that has had on infrastructure and hospitals, which is of course been so extremely exacerbated by this earthquake, and why that makes things so much harder?

MOOIJ: I would say this area was affected by so many disasters already in the last couple of years. And we talk about the war, we talk about displacement, COVID. There's been quite a bit of cholera. And now, this. As kind of people feel they are getting pretty desperate and see no way out. And starting up, small projects, provides a bit of hope. But the numbers are rising of victims by the hour.

NOBILO: Johan Mooij thank you so much for your perspective and best of luck to you and your teams on the ground to help as much as you can. Thank you.

We are following a developing story out of the United Kingdom, where Downing Street has just announced a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That's happening today and will include a meeting with the Prime Minister and an address to Parliament. CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments, and joins me now in London. Clare, we had no idea this was coming.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We did not. The last we heard of it, there was talk of a standing invitation for Zelenskyy to go to Brussels. Now, it turns out he is on his way, if not already in the United Kingdom. It's a big moment. This is only his second trip out of the country since the start of the war. He really made that a policy that he was not going to leave while this was still going on. But of course, he visited the U.S. in December, came away with that promise of the Patriot missile battery.

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And we'll see some key announcements today. The U.K. in a statement from Downing Street saying that's going to announce training for both pilots and marines, that it's going to expand its current training program, which is ongoing for Ukrainian recruits. Talk about a two- pronged approach to the immediate acceleration, it says, of military equipment.

That may include what it calls longer range capabilities. Very significant, because we know Ukraine's been asking for longer range missiles, and also long-term support so Ukraine can continue to defend itself. So, very interesting that we're going to see that training for pilots, because of course we've seen from Ukraine recently a real uptick around the messaging around fighter jets. It's really asking its Western allies for fighter jets.

That is not included in the U.K. statement at the moment. The most recent thing we heard as the U.K. said it wasn't practical to send fighter jets. But they are going to move now to training Ukrainian pilots.

NOBILO: And the decision for Zelenskyy to choose on his second overseas trip since the war began, the United Kingdom. You mentioned how he went to the U.S., obviously the country with the biggest military muscle in NATO that can provide the most help. The U.K. has been a stalwart supporter of Ukraine throughout this. And it is a decision just to try and bolster that support further, rather than for example, visiting countries like Germany, which has wavered and perhaps Germany falling more in line with the U.S. and U.K. might be of more benefit to Ukraine?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, it feels like it's timed obviously with this announcement around the expansion of training. He's going to visiting Ukrainian troops who are already training in the U.K. The U.K. has definitely led the way, has trailblazed in some ways. It was the first country to announce that the British's main battle tanks, those Challenger 2 tanks. So, I think it is a way to cement that friendship and to use it really as a sort of PR exercise. President Zelenskyy as you know is a master of this. And to signal to the world that this really is a moment when Ukraine really needs its allies to step up.

Certainly, we heard from Biden's State of the Union address that they are standing with Ukraine. He says for as long as it takes. I think Ukrainian now needs to really try to ensure that it gets that kind of support from all its allies.

NOBILO: And we'll be watching his address to Parliament very closely to see what I'm sure will be more request for those fighter jets and our continued support. Clare Sebastian, thank you so much.

The U.S. president takes on some of his loudest critics during a combat of State of the Union of address. The main messages that got through, coming up.

Plus, North Korea's leader celebrates a big military anniversary. But it's not just Kim Jong-un showing up for dinner.

And LeBron James makes basketball history. We'll have a report from Los Angeles about a new milestone for the Lakers superstar.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Unity and bipartisanship were the major themes of U.S. President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. Remarks that were widely seen as a test run for a possible bid for reelection next year.

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Mr. Biden focused heavily on issues of inequality, and repeatedly pushed for boosting the middle class, who he calls the countries backbone. He touted the millions of new jobs created on his watch. But President Biden also responded to Republican digs over how he's handled China and Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Today, we're in the strongest position in decades to compete with China or anyone else in the world?

I'm committed to work with China where we can advance American interests and benefit the world. But make no mistake about it, as we've made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country, and we did.

Putin's invasion has been a test for the ages a test for America, a test for the world. When we stand for the most basic of principles, when we stand for sovereignty, we stand for the right of people to live free of tyranny, when we stand for the defense of democracy, for such defense matters to us because it keeps peace and prevents open season on would be aggressors that threaten our prosperity. Commute One year later, we know the answer. Yes, we would and we did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: This was Mr. Biden's first big address since Republicans took control the House. And at times, the audience got a little bit unruly. CNN's Phil Mattingly explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Four White House officials who crafted President Biden's second State of the Union address, a critical primetime moment, tens of millions of viewers. here were three words they wanted the American public to take away for the president's remarks. Finish the job, finish the job of his first two years, two years defined by major legislative achievements.

But still, significant malaise within the country coming out of the pandemic, coming out of an economic crisis. Finish the job, perhaps, for two years from now when he's likely is running for reelection for a second term in office despite being the oldest president in history.

But there was also an effort to reach out to Republicans. Republicans obviously newly elevated to the majority in the House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sitting behind President Biden for the first time in the State of the Union address. And the president offering an olive branch, take a listen.

BIDEN: And to my Republican friends, if we could work together the last Congress, there's no reason we can't work together and find consensus on important things in this Congress as well.

MATTINGLY: But that didn't mean it was necessarily a kind and gentle House chamber when the president delved into some of the areas of clear contention, most notably, the possibility of cutting Medicare and Social Security, something Republicans have made clear they don't view as on the table, particularly through the lens of debt ceiling negotiations that are now underway. The president saying in fact that they did have it on the table. That, leading to a back and forth that the president was more than happy to engage in, even as he was called by some Americans, a liar, shutting that from the audience.

The president saying, he welcomed a conversion moment. Saying there wasn't unanimity on an issue. Calling for all members to stand in support of seniors. All members stood and supported seniors. It was a moment that was off script and one that thrilled White House officials. As one official told me, you could not have crafted that moment any better.

It was also a window into a president, despite his age, very clearly is energized by the audience that he's speaking in front of, an audience that was engaged as much as he was throughout the course the night. There could not have been a better moment for that. For a president that doesn't command large crowds, doesn't often try and sit in the forefront of cable news or in print publications on a regular basis, this was an opportunity to speak to a lot of people who White House officials viewed as not regularly engaged in political news or political media.

This was his chance to reach out to them with his economic proposals, from his kitchen table proposals, with his calls for bipartisanship. Frankly, it was a lead up, a test case, if you will, for a reelection message that the president is likely to roll out in weeks ahead. He'll certainly be rolling out in the days ahead, traveling to Wisconsin on Wednesday, a critical swing state. To Florida on Thursday, a state Democrats seemed to have lost a grip on over the course of the last couple of election cycles. All the highlight's of his economic agenda. All the highlights of his

plans going ahead, all to implicitly highlight the fact that despite his age, despite his approval ratings, this president, as he demonstrated in his primetime address, fully plans on running for reelection in 2024.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: With me here in London, Leslie Vinjamun, whose head of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Chatham House think tank. Thank you so much. So nice to see you in person.

Yes, thank you.

NOBILO: For an international audience -- because that's who we're talking to today -- it was interesting how little President Biden actually said about foreign policy, given the huge strategic threats and rebalancing happening internationally, this massive disaster in Turkey and Syria. It seemed like this was America first and the rest of the world a very much second.

LESLIE VINJAMUN, HEAD OF U.S. AND AMERICAS PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: It really. Was and it wasn't so much about, you know, America matters more than the rest the world, it was just a complete absence ...

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