Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

7.7 Magnitude Quake Rocks Myanmar and Thailand; Republican Lawmakers Divided Over Chat Group Snafu; Rubio Confirms Revoking Turkish Tufts Student's Visa; U.S. Vice President and Second Lady to Visit Greenland; Lawmakers Demand Answers at Hearing into Fatal Crash; Anti-Hamas Protests in Gaza Demand End to War; U.S. Car Prices Expected to Surge After New Trump Tariffs. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired March 28, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. We begin with breaking news this hour.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a 7.7 magnitude earthquake has hit central Myanmar. The depth was relatively shallow at 10 kilometers or 6 miles. A strong 6.4 aftershock followed just a few minutes later. People as far away as Bangkok, Thailand, report feeling the shaking and ran out into the streets. We're getting early reports of buildings collapsing in Myanmar.

I want to bring in Will Ripley, who's monitoring the story from Taipei in Taiwan and joins us now live. Will, this is still a developing story, details still thin on the ground. But what do we know?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that this quake was a shallow quake and it happened near Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay. And the videos that are emerging on social media from that city are painting a pretty grim picture.

Obviously, there's limited connectivity in Myanmar. There's limited electricity. A lot of this information is being shared on social media. But we have started to see some of these videos emerge of bridge collapse, building collapses. No casualty numbers at this stage because it's simply far too early.

People in Myanmar close to the epicenter are likely in the midst of a very chaotic situation. I mean, it was certainly chaotic many hundreds of miles away in Bangkok, which doesn't sit along a fault line, but it has soft soil which can amplify the feeling of the distant tremors.

So buildings were shaking so powerfully all the way in Bangkok that people panicked and evacuated. We haven't seen a lot of videos coming out of Myanmar yet, but the ones that we have seen are indicating that this could be a very, very bad situation. It's too soon to say, and we certainly hope not.

But given that this happened near a densely populated city of Mandalay, second largest in Myanmar, and given that a quake back in 2012 in that same area, a 6.8 earthquake that killed 26 people and caused widespread damage, this quake, if indeed it was 7.7, that is around 22 times more energy, producing about eight times greater ground shaking. So we can only hold our breath and wait for these images and for the details to start to emerge. But it's very difficult to get information out of Myanmar, even on a good day.

This video you're seeing right now, this is the shaking in Bangkok. Look at that. Mark Phillips, our photographer, took that in his apartment. This is a long distance away from the epicenter of this earthquake, and that's how strongly it was shaking in Bangkok.

But Myanmar is in the midst of a civil war that's been raging for several years. So it's very complicated to even get into the country. There are regular interruptions to things like the Internet and phone communication. So even getting a sense of the extent of the damage, never mind getting in aid and assistance and help or getting in resources to rescue people who may be buried under trapped buildings, it is an overwhelming situation to wrap your head around. Especially when you've got a military that's been fighting a civil war that now presumably would have to try to pivot and see if they can help the people that are likely in grave danger because of this.

So we're just watching, trying to get what little pieces of information we can. We've spoken with some journalists that CNN works with who are on the ground in Myanmar who said the shaking for them felt like it lasted three or four minutes.

And there's a lot of old buildings there, a lot of old colonial era buildings that may have survived previous earthquakes. But every earthquake, it damages buildings more. And they haven't put a whole lot of investment into their infrastructure because they've been tied up with other things in Myanmar.

So it's a very different situation when you're in a country like that and you experience a major earthquake. Major earthquakes are scary everywhere. But in here in Taiwan or in Japan, you know, places where buildings have been built to try to protect against earthquakes. It's a less life threatening situation than for anybody who's in an older building in a place like Myanmar. Likely a terrifying, terrifying situation for people inside buildings, likely people trapped in buildings and daylight quickly, quickly running out.

So we're going to have to wait for many hours and perhaps days or even longer to get a true extent of this damage, Kim. But it's not looking good right now.

[04:05:00]

BRUNHUBER: No, and not just in Myanmar. We're just getting reports now seeing here 43 people trapped after a building collapsed in Bangkok. So, again, the the effects of this rating far beyond just Myanmar. We're going to have to stay on top of the story. Stand by, Will, we'll come back to you a little bit later on as we continue to cover this developing story.

A U.S. federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to preserve the group chat messages from top officials discussing plans for an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen. Watchdog group is suing to prevent the texts from being auto deleted by the Signal app or otherwise destroyed.

The administration says federal agencies are already working to locate and preserve the chat. Judge James Boasberg is overseeing the case. He recently drew the anger of the Trump administration over his handling of a challenge to the deportation of Venezuelan migrants.

Former Trump attorney Ty Cobb explains why preserving the text is important.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ATTORNEY: Everybody on that group chat had an obligation under the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records Act, you know, to transfer that text chain to their government accounts and preserve it under those statutes. I think it'll be interesting, perhaps telling, whether those whether those records were preserved.

And keep in mind that with regard to Goldberg's thread that he preserved, he came in late and opted out early once he realized what was going on.

So he doesn't have the entire string. He only has the string that, you know, he was captured during the time that he had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Republican lawmakers are divided over the Signal scandal. Some want to move on. Others are calling for an investigation.

CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of Republicans on Capitol Hill who are ready to move on from the Signal controversy that has really dominated the discussion in Washington over the last several days. Yes, the Senate Armed Services Committee, the leaders, the Republican leader, Roger Wicker, who's the chairman of the committee, as well as Jack Reed, the top Democrat of the committee. They did, in fact, request an independent inspector general investigation that is separate from Congress. They want the government watchdog to essentially figure out what happened here.

But will Congress actually mount its own investigation? It's unclear the extent to which the Senate Armed Services Committee will do its own probe. They want to have their own briefings. But will they go beyond that? That is still an open question.

And in the House, there are some -- all sorts of indications that Republicans there do not have any appetite to launch any investigation whatsoever into this matter. Are they willing to actually sweep it under the rug and move on? Hope it does not happen again. And talking to Republican senators, some of them, including Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, someone who had initially struggled with Pete Hegseth's nomination, ultimately decided to vote yes, told me she still has confidence behind the defense secretary.

RAJU: Do you have confidence in him as defense secretary?

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): I do. And this is a call that the president will make. But I know that the NSC is going to scrutinize this and then they'll get back to us know.

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): That it was unintentional. It's a mistake. I think it's been admitted. It's a mistake. It was wrong. It won't happen again.

RAJU: Hegseth has not admitted it was a mistake.

MCCORMICK: I haven't heard him not admit it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see where an investigation is needed at this time.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): In her opening statement, DNI Gabbard should have said this never should have happened. We made a major error.

RAJU: And that last comment striking a bit of a different tone. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who does sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee, she had raised some concerns about Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and not acknowledging that there were errors that were made and not apologizing for their involvement in that Signal group chat.

But while there are those concerns among Republicans, many are just simply ready to move on, hope that nothing else emerges and hope that essentially the focus will shift next week when they come back to Washington.

Manu Raju, CNN Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is warning some people with U.S. issued visas. He said the Trump administration may have revoked more than 300 visas so far and more could be revoked soon. Rubio says it's because they're lunatics involved in destructive actions.

Here's the secretary of the press conference in Guyana on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're saying it could be more than 300? RUBIO: Sure. I hope. I mean, at some point, I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of all of them. But we're looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up. And by the way, we want to get rid of gang members, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Turkish PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk is among those with a revoked visa. She's being held without charges in an immigration and customs facility in Louisiana. Plainclothes immigration agents arrested her in Massachusetts.

[04:10:00]

The federal government alleges that she supports Hamas. Secretary Rubio doubled down on these allegations just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: There's a clear distinction between protesting against the democratic order and protesting in favor of groups that advocate for slaughter and murder of innocent people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more on Ozturk's case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rumeysa Ozturk is the latest in a string of arrests in the United States of foreign nationals linked to prestigious universities and purported to be related or have ties to a terrorist organization.

Now, the administration is using an obscure law to target these individuals. It gives the secretary of state authority to revoke a visa if that individual or individuals is believed to have an adverse foreign policy consequence.

Now, there are no charges against Rumeysa, according to her attorney. She was here legally. The Department of Homeland Security, which has not provided evidence, said the following in a statement, quote, DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas. They go on to say -- Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated.

Now, as you see in the video, she was approached by plainclothes officers while she was walking. And it was then that they detained her, arrested her and then detained her.

This was an issue that came up in court where a judge said that she should not be moved out of Massachusetts. The Department of Homeland Security saying, however, that they had already moved her to an ICE facility in Louisiana. She becomes the third student to be detained in that facility. Her family believes that it is an op ed that she wrote last year that has served as the basis for this, where she criticized the response to the pro-Palestinian movement.

Her brother saying in a statement, quote, It seems that she has been subjected to the activities of ICE, which has been on a witch hunt in the post-Trump period against those who support Palestine.

Going on to say that the land of the free, the freedom of expression and the freedom of belief are under -- or rather that they have been targeted.

Now, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, did weigh in on this, and he has suggested that there are more to come, saying that there may have been more than 300 visas to date that have been revoked.

Now, again, the secretary of state here is critical in the invoking of this law to, again, revoke visas from those who they deem could be national security threats. But the major concern with immigrant advocates and immigration attorneys is that there is not evidence that is being provided to justify or serve as the basis for this. Or at times, the evidence that is being presented is flimsy. And that has been a major concern. It is also part of ongoing lawsuits, but certainly the administration indicating that they are not backing down any time soon.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Greenland is gearing up for the arrival of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, as leaders there condemn President Trump's bid to buy the self-governing Danish territory. Here's what he said on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a island that from a defensive posture and even offensive posture is something we need, especially with the world the way it is. And we're going to have to have it. And so I hate to put it that way, but we're going to have to have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Vance's itinerary dramatically changed as outrage over the trip grew in Greenland. They'll no longer go to one of the world's foremost dog sled races. The pair is now set to visit a U.S. base and meet service members on Friday.

The Danish lawmaker says Trump wants Greenland simply to expand U.S. territory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERS VISTISEN, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: America have had security bases, military installations in Greenland since 1940. They have decided themselves to scale back their military presence. If they wanted to upscale that for any serious reason, there will not be any objections from Denmark or Greenland.

So there's really no other argument for this persistence than Donald Trump wanting to enlarge his territory and apparently enlarging it by taking it from a from an allied nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: We're also learning the Vance's will be joined by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Republican Senator Mike Lee, who's been a vocal supporter of President Trump's plan for Greenland.

All right, when we come back, we'll have much more on our breaking news coverage of the massive earthquake in Myanmar.

Plus, European leaders stand by Ukraine and Vladimir Putin suggests removing the Ukrainian president from power.

Stay with us.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: All right let's get you up to speed on our breaking news this hour. The U.S. Geological Survey reports a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake in central Myanmar. We're getting reports of buildings collapsing in Myanmar and emergency officials say at least 43 people are trapped under a collapsed building in Bangkok, Thailand.

CNN photojournalist Mark Phelps recorded this video of the shaking in his apartment building in Bangkok. Another resident of the capital shot this video showing water splashing out of a rooftop pool on the apartment building next door.

The USGS says the quake has a depth of 10 kilometers or six miles. A second large aftershock of 6.4 magnitude hit just about 12 minutes after the initial quake. And we'll bring you any updates when we get more information.

But for now, I want to bring in Fabrice Cotton, who's a seismologist at the GFZ Center and he joins us from Potsdam, Germany. Thank you so much for being here with us.

[04:20:00]

So, again, we don't have many -- a lot of information about this earthquake right now in terms of the amount of damage and injuries and so on. But what can you tell us about the observation so far?

FABRICE COTTON, SEISMOLOGIST, GFZ CENTER: I think what I can tell you is it's a major earthquake, no doubt on that, magnitude 7.6, 7.7, similar to the size and the type of earthquake that we had in February 2023 in Turkey. So we may -- we will have damages from this earthquake, it's difficult to really evaluate them yet, we don't have much information.

What I can tell you is that probably the earthquakes have been reporting the Sagaing fault, which is one of the major faults of this part of the world. It's a well-known fault, which has been where many earthquakes, more than seven, has been occurring between 1930 and 1960. So we are not surprised that the largest quake is occurring there. But that's what I can tell you now.

BRUNHUBER: Gosh, I mean, that earthquake in Turkey, the one in 2023, I believe that killed some 55,000 people. So, again, we don't know the extent of the lives lost in this earthquake. But what you're saying is that this is equivalent to that one, which was so catastrophic in Turkey.

We talk about this earthquake as being shallow. What difference does that make?

COTTON: Shallow means that the cities are closer to the place where the seismic energy is released. So I think we have two major cities in this area, Sagaing, about 80,000 people living there, and Mandalay, more than one million people living in Mandalay. So I think difficult, again, difficult to evaluate what the damages are now.

But I think we have two major cities located to a major earthquake. So that's why we think that there would be damages. I think if you look at the prediction of damages from the major software of USGS, there is a high probability that there would be more than 1,000 fatalities.

I think a major earthquake like that also is felt quite far. And I'm not surprised also that in particular in tall buildings, because the earthquake is denying long periods, waves. And so tall buildings located in Bangkok for sure have been shaken.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. It's having such a huge footprint across the region. In terms of -- we've already seen one aftershock, and this was a major aftershock. That would be a huge earthquake just on its own. It was some 6.6. Typically, do we see lots of aftershocks? How long could this possibly continue?

COTTON: We quite often see aftershocks, which are about one magnitude less than the main shock. Usually that's something that is happening. So a 6.4 aftershock for 7.6 main shock. This is not totally surprising. Of course, for such earthquakes, the aftershock sequence will last quite long. Difficult to say how long.

Really, frankly, it's really difficult to say because it's highly depending on the earthquake. It's highly depending on the local stress on the fault nearby. So I cannot tell you anything about how long it will last, but probably several days, several weeks.

BRUNHUBER: Unbelievable the extent to which this could continue.

You were talking about this area and this particular fault. What more can you tell us about -- so Myanmar is certainly no stranger to these types of earthquakes. But what more can you tell us about the fault and the geography on which this country is located?

COTTON: I think you have to understand that, of course, earthquakes are driven by plate tectonics. And India, the plate India, is moving north at a speed about more than about 3.5 centimeters per year. And half of this movement is accommodated on the eastern part by the Sagaing Fault.

So the Sagaing Fault is moving at a speed of about 1.8 centimeters per year. So half of the movement of the Indian plate toward the north is accommodated on the eastern part by the Sagaing Fault. So we are discussing here really a major tectonic fault.

BRUNHUBER: Well, listen, it's been fascinating to get your expertise on this major development here, this earthquake in Myanmar.

[04:25:00]

I really appreciate that, Fabrice Cotton, thank you so much for speaking with us.

COTTON: Thank you so much.

BRUNHUBER: And this is a developing story. We have live images now coming to us from Bangkok, Thailand. And we've just learned that one person has died in the building collapse. Fifty people were injured. One person is still missing. And stay with CNN. We'll bring you developments as soon as we get them.

As European leaders deliver a show of support for Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is making it clear he wants the Ukrainian president removed from power. The Russian president called for a temporary administration in Ukraine, adding that he wants, quote, the root causes that led to today's situation eliminated -- here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): In principle, of course, it would be possible under the auspices of the UN, with the United States, even with European countries. And, of course, with our partners and friends, to discuss the possibility of introducing temporary administration in Ukraine.

For what? In order to hold democratic elections. In order to bring to power a viable government that enjoys the people's trust. And then begin negotiations with it on a peace treaty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: While speaking to a submarine crew in Murmansk, President Putin also said Russia is willing to work with Europe but accused its leaders of always trying to lead us by the nose.

Many of those Western leaders gathered in Paris Thursday for a so- called coalition of the willing summit. And they agreed, now isn't the time to lift restrictions on Moscow after it demanded some sanctions relief earlier this week. The European stance sends a pointed message to the Trump administration, which said it was considering Russia's demands. But the British prime minister said sanctions against the Kremlin should actually be strengthened. And the Ukrainian president called on the U.S. to step up its game.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also addressed negotiations with the U.S. over a rare earth minerals deal. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The terms keep changing, and it seems to me as if we have already agreed there will be a framework agreement, and then a full agreement. And now, as I understand, Ukrainian and American teams are working on this, because America is now changing these terms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Sources tell CNN that the Trump administration's latest proposal would give the U.S. even more access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals.

All right ahead, we'll have the latest on a breaking news. The powerful earthquake that's jolted Myanmar and rattled neighboring countries.

Stay with us.

[04:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'm going to go back now to our breaking news out of Southeast Asia.

Emergency authorities are responding after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked central Myanmar. That's according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand, where this building collapsed.

Authorities say one person was killed, one person is missing, and one person is said to be trapped in the rubble. Fifty other people were injured. Now in other parts of Bangkok, people fled into the streets as fixtures inside homes swung wildly.

Thailand's prime minister is holding an emergency meeting.

I want to go back to Will Ripley, who's keeping an eye on all these developments from Taipei, Taiwan. Will, what's the latest?

RIPLEY: Well, Kim, that video of a building collapse in Bangkok is dramatic enough. You can only imagine the situation in Mandalay, Myanmar, which is near the epicenter of this quake -- this massive 7.7 magnitude quake. We are speaking with CNN-affiliated journalists on the ground in

Myanmar who are talking about seeing multiple building collapses from their vantage points, but getting information out of there is exceedingly difficult. Power is interrupted in Myanmar on a good day, so people are largely relying on their social media to get information out from the quake zone. And looking at other quakes that have happened in this area, because Myanmar is prone to earthquakes, it sits along a fault line.

There was a much less powerful quake back in 2012, a 6.8. That one killed 26 people and caused widespread damage. It was in relatively the same area. This quake could be 22 times stronger in terms of energy produced, about eight times greater ground shaking.

Witnesses in Myanmar that CNN has spoken with say that the shaking felt like it lasted three or four minutes. That is a terrifying ordeal if you're going through an earthquake, particularly in a city like Mandalay or, you know, even in Bangkok, far away. People were terrified because they were older buildings. They're not designed to weather the shaking of an earthquake as well as buildings in a place like, say, Taipei or in Tokyo.

In Thailand, people were so terrified they evacuated out of their buildings, and now you have that one building that was under construction actually collapsing. Very dramatic video.

A much more dire situation, undoubtedly, the closer and closer that we can get to the epicenter in Myanmar. But even getting information out of there, never mind getting in relief and assistance, it's going to be exceedingly complicated, Kim, because, as you know, they've been fighting a civil war for the last several years.

And so we're rapidly losing daylight in this region. Just a couple of hours left before we go into the first night of this disaster, but by the time the sun comes up tomorrow, we could be looking at an incredibly large swath of destruction. And it's really anyone's guess right now how many people, how many lives could be affected by this. We certainly hope it's not a lot, but things are not looking good at this stage.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. All right, really appreciate the updates there. Will Ripley, thanks so much.

Families of some of the 67 people killed when a plane and helicopter collided are demanding change. Now, this comes after a Thursday Senate hearing on January's midair collision in Washington, D.C. During that hearing, U.S. senators had tough questions for aviation authorities. Pete Muntean has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:35:00]

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I spoke with family members of those who died in this crash, and they say they want to see substantive change following the Senate subcommittee hearing. Really, the big things here were the fact that the FAA and the head of

the Army's aviation division were the ones in the hot seat, and senators really pounded them for answers, considering the fact that the NTSB uncovered 15,000 close proximity events involving airplanes and helicopters over a three-year period leading up to this crash. Eighty-five of those incidents were very close calls.

I want you to listen now to Senator Maria Cantwell, who directed a lot of ire at the Federal Aviation Administration.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): Why did the FAA not act on 15,000 reports of dangerous proximity? How were these helicopter routes allowed to remain when alarm bells were literally going off in the towers? This lack of oversight must change.

MUNTEAN: Remember, all of that information comes from publicly available FAA data. So here is the big admission from acting FAA head Chris Rocheleau.

CHRIS ROCHELEAU, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, FAA: I'm very concerned about what we've learned in the subsequent investigation, both from the NTSB as well as our own reviews that we immediately took. Clearly, something was missed.

MUNTEAN: The NTSB has essentially laid out that this was an accident waiting to happen, and this was the graphic shown once again by NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy that shows very close margins. In fact, she called it no margin at all, really, when you consider the approach path that the American Eagle flight was using and the helicopter route that the Black Hawk was using. She says that design built in only 75 feet of altitude clearance.

The FAA has now mandated that all helicopters flying around the DCA airspace be using something called ADS-B out that provides air traffic controllers and other airplanes with better traffic avoidance information. Also, the FAA has essentially closed that helicopter route for the time being, but family members I spoke to here say that is only a half measure to make sure that this never happens again. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: We continue to follow the aftermath of a powerful earthquake in Myanmar. The 7.7 magnitude quake shook skyscrapers and was felt across the region. We'll bring you the latest developments next.

Stay with us.

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: An update on our breaking news. The 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit central Myanmar as well as parts of Thailand and China. No word yet on casualties in Myanmar, but we're hearing the quake brought down a bridge. You can see it there in the distance.

We're getting shocking images from Bangkok, where a high-rise building that was under construction completely collapsed. Authorities say one person is dead and 50 others injured. And we'll bring you more information once we get it.

I'm joined now by William Yeck, a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center. He's speaking to us from Golden, Colorado.

Thank you so much for being here with us. I really appreciate it. So just what can you tell us about this quake?

WILLIAM YECK, RESEARCH GEOPHYSICIST, USGS: Right, so the earthquake was a magnitude 7.7. It was a fairly shallow earthquake, and it was followed shortly after, about 11 minutes after, by a magnitude 6.4. So just for context of the size, a magnitude 7.7 is about the size of the Turkey earthquake we saw in 2023. That was quite destructive.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, quite destructive. Some 55,000 people died in that one, and now we don't know the extent of either the fatalities or the damage in Myanmar. The situation could be completely different, depending on the buildings and density and so on and so forth. So we're still waiting for those details.

But in the meantime, Myanmar is no stranger to earthquakes. Give us the history of that region and the location of the faults that are significant in this case.

YECK: Right, so we've been able to model this earthquake, and we saw that it's a strike-slip earthquake, which means it's two plates sliding next to each other. And that's consistent with a fault, a very large fault in the area called the Sagaing Fault. So there's been other magnitude 7 earthquakes along this fault.

And as you mentioned before, the impact of an earthquake really depends on the population density, the building fragility. So one of the things we do at the USGS is we take these characterizations of the earthquake, and then we try to estimate the impact. So for this event, we expect it to be a high-impact event.

We color-code the impact. We'll go green, yellow, orange, red. So this we consider a red event because there's a high population density. It's a large event. It's shallow, so we expect strong shaking.

BRUNHUBER: So a high impact, I mean, what precisely does that mean? Do you have a range of outcomes?

YECK: Yes, so we model very coarsely the expected impact in terms of fatalities and economic loss. So in this case, you know, our highest models estimate fatalities to be between 1,000 and 10,000, but it's a very broad range. And, you know, as we gather more information, we'll be able to drill that down more and more. And hearing news reports helps us as well.

[04:45:00] BRUNHUBER: OK. Yes, the news still filtering out very slowly out of Myanmar for many different reasons. It is obviously cut off and going through ongoing conflict.

In terms of the way that this particular earthquake proceeded, talk to me about the shallowness of this earthquake. How shallow is it relatively, and what effect does that have in terms of the consequences?

YECK: Right, so the shallower the rupture, the stronger the shaking would be. So if you have a very deep earthquake, you expect less shaking. If it's really shallow, you actually can have a rupture on the surface and then very strong shaking.

It's important to note that, you know, we talk about these earthquakes as a location and a point. So we say magnitude 7.7. But really, that rupture is spread along a long distance along the fault. So for an earthquake of the size that strikes an earthquake, that rupture can be 100 kilometers or longer. So they can be a pretty long rupture. So you'd expect strong shaking, you know, wherever you see the most rupture along that fault.

When we talk about shallow, we're talking about, you know, a few miles. But the actual rupture goes, it could be from, you know, zero to 15 miles deep, a patch of rupture. So we'll get more details as we do more modeling of this event. But we do know that it extends, you know, farther than the point that we see on a map.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. And we're seeing the effects radiate out as well way beyond the borders of Myanmar to Thailand, for example, where we're seeing that building collapse.

In terms of aftershocks, we've already seen at least one major one. Could there be more to come?

YECK: Yes, I mean, aftershocks are expected occurrence after a large earthquake like this. You know, unfortunately, we can't precisely predict when an aftershock is going to occur, how large an aftershock is going to occur. But, you know, we do know that aftershocks are something that happens. So people should be prepared for more shaking who live in the region.

And, you know, again, Turkey, if we look back to Turkey in 2023, that was an example where we had a large magnitude 7.8 earthquake followed very soon after by magnitude 7.7. So we know that these large aftershocks can occur.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's a good point. And the length of this earthquake seems notable. I mean, I lived in L.A. If you go through, you know, a 30 second earthquake, I mean, that is terrifying enough. We're getting reports that there was some three to four minutes of shaking. Is that normal? And obviously, the longer the shaking, the more damage there is, right?

YECK: Right. So the larger the earthquake, typically, the longer it takes to rupture across the fault. So that can lead to these longer earthquakes, as you will.

But at the same time, as you get further away from an earthquake, you feel more parts of the seismic wave as they travel. So you feel shaking longer than the actual rupture of the earthquake. So in terms of the reports of how long people felt shaking, you know, it's really dependent on where they were relative to the earthquake.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. All right. We're still waiting for all the details about this to come out. But in the meantime, it's great to get your expertise on what we know so far. William Yeck, thank you so much for being here with us.

YECK: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: More than a dozen aid workers have been killed or gone missing in Gaza over the past few days. That's according to several groups. As Israel ramps up its renewed military assault on the enclave, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees says eight of its staff members were killed.

Separately, Israeli strikes killed a World Central Kitchen volunteer as meals were being distributed. And the Palestine Red Crescent Society says nine of its workers have been missing since Sunday when Israeli forces fired on ambulances and fire trucks in southern Gaza. Israel claims militants were using the vehicles as cover.

Over consecutive days this week, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza for the largest public demonstrations against Hamas since the war began.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports. And we just want to warn you, you may find some of the images here disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Calls for ousting Hamas echo through the rubble-lined streets of northern Gaza. After 17 months of war, public exhaustion and rising anger at the Islamist militant group has spilled out into the open, marking the war's largest anti-Hamas demonstrations.

No Hamas, no jihad, they chant. We want to save our country.

Over two consecutive days, a few thousand Palestinians poured into the streets of Beit Lahiya. The protests represent a relatively small share of Gaza's population of more than two million. But it is still a remarkable stand against a group that has not hesitated to violently quash dissent.

[04:50:00]

Some carried white flags as they raised their voices against Hamas and against the war. This Gazan surgeon calling on Israel to stop the bloodshed and on Arab nations to drive up the pressure. But his final message is to Hamas.

Enough is enough, Dr. Ahmad says. You have ruled long enough. Give others a chance. Give others the opportunity to govern.

We have no food. Our children find nothing to eat, this man says. We walk while stumbling over everything. We say no to Hamas. We have had enough. We are tired.

Small protests also broke out in other parts of the Gaza Strip, including in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

I will not be ruled by a masked man, reads one sign. The blood of our children is not cheap, reads another.

Israel seizing on the protests, calling on more Gazans to rise up. But there is also a message here for Israel.

Not all the people in Gaza are Hamas, nor are they terrorists to be treated so severely, this man says, condemning Hamas' indiscriminate attacks. Hamas, he says, must also stop gambling with their lives.

Anger at Hamas has largely stayed below the surface, revealing itself only in the cries of those cursing Hamas after their loved ones were killed.

And so it is no surprise that northern Gaza is where the anger boiled over. No part of the Strip has been more devastated. But there are still children here. And hope is not yet extinguished.

DIAMOND: In a statement, Hamas' government media office said that the protests, quote, do not reflect the general national position, insisting that they are the result of the, quote, unprecedented pressure our people are experiencing amid the war.

The question now is whether these protests will continue to grow, and if they do, whether they will actually affect Hamas' position on ceasefire negotiations.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: President Trump is facing growing backlash from America's allies for his escalating trade war. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is vowing to retaliate after the president announced sweeping new tariffs on Wednesday, 25 percent on all cars and car parts shipped to the U.S. Carney called the tariffs a direct attack. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It's clear the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations we could reestablish an element of confidence, but there will be no going backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Japan's prime minister says he'll consider all options. Both Germany and France are urging the European Union to respond, but while world leaders weigh their options, most experts agree Americans should expect car prices to go up.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, first the car manufacturers are going to feel these increases in prices, and then that's going to translate all the way down to the consumer. If you look at the cost to produce a vehicle with a 25 percent tariff, economists estimate that this will cost about $3,500 to $12,000 more per vehicle.

And then when we talk about the consumer, a lot of economists are suggesting that it could cost upwards of $5,000 to $15,000 more per vehicle.

But let's take the White House's numbers on this. According to their fact sheet, a $40,000 vehicle made in America would cost $5,000 more if that company uses foreign parts. And that is important because 10.2 million cars produced here in the United States in 2024, 50 percent of the parts in those cars were foreign parts, so that is getting taxed.

But ultimately, the White House is sticking by what they're saying. We heard from trade advisor Peter Navarro just a short time ago who doubled down on these tariffs and said ultimately they would be good for the consumer. Listen.

PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR COUNSELOR FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: The 25 percent tariff is going to be absorbed in a lot of different ways, and we're going to race to get more production here. And on net, consumers are going to be better off.

YURKEVICH: Ultimately, it is up to the car companies if they want to absorb some of these costs and if they want to stand up more production here in the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: King Charles has canceled his public engagements set for Friday after experiencing what Buckingham Palace calls temporary side effects from a scheduled cancer treatment on Thursday. He returned home after a short period of observation in hospital.

[04:55:00]

The King is still expected to make a state visit to Italy with Queen Camilla next month. His cancer diagnosis was first announced in February of last year.

All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Rahel Solomon will pick up our breaking news coverage on a devastating earthquake in Southeast Asia. That's coming up after a short break.