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Tsunami Warning In Japan After Massive Earthquake; U.S. Helicopters Sink Three Houthi Boats In Red Sea; Putin Says Russia Will Increase Strikes On Ukraine. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 01, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:32:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm John Berman. Happy New Year to you all.

This is CNN's special live coverage. We are following breaking news out of Japan this morning. A powerful earthquake is triggering a tsunami warning and evacuation.

You're looking at video from moments just after the quake struck. You can see buildings collapse. Huge clouds of dust rising there over on the left side of your screen.

Japanese officials just lowered their alert from a major tsunami warning to a tsunami warning. Still, very serious. They're expecting waves of about three meters -- that's 10 feet -- and higher. They warn that aftershocks could last for days with potential landslides and building collapses.

We have team coverage this morning. Derek Van Dam is tracking tsunami warnings. Stanley Goosby is the lead duty scientist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

We're going to start with Hanako Montgomery who is live this morning in Japan. Give us a sense of what's happening on the ground.

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So right now, we heard that the tsunami warning has been lowered, so we expect 3-meter-high waves. That's about 10 feet. And, of course, this is a very developing story so we're still trying to get a gauge of just how devastating the tsunami might be. But right now, CNN has confirmed that we're seeing 1.2-meter-high waves hitting parts of western Japan. A tsunami warning has been issued for the entire west coast of Japan.

And in Ishikawa prefecture, there's a coastal city called Noto and we're just seeing lots of videos and footage coming out of that region. It's a coastal town and many people have been told to evacuate from their homes. Of course, this is New Year's Day so this is a time when many people spend it with their families, their friends, in their homes. But given this developing story with this emergency, people have been told to leave and evacuate to higher ground.

And as you mentioned, aftershocks are being felt. We know that we have had at least 14 aftershocks and this might continue for at least three days is what Japanese authorities are telling us.

BERMAN: Hanako, if people are not familiar with the geography of Japan, tell us where the epicenter here was. How far away it is from Tokyo. Is this a much population center? How many people are being affected by this?

Hanako -- I think we lost Hanako Montgomery right there.

But as you can see, we're talking about the west coast of Japan, about 185 miles in a direct line from Tokyo. It is a province with well over a million people -- not as densely populated as the Tokyo area.

[07:35:01]

And as we sit here this morning we are receiving reports of damage but not catastrophic damage, at least not yet. And again, we are monitoring for tsunami warnings along the coast there. They have lowered the threat of the warning from the catastrophic waves to waves anywhere from about 10 feet to a little bit higher.

You're looking at live pictures right now from Ishikawa in Japan.

Let's get to meteorologist Derek Van Dam who is tracking the tsunami warnings. Derek, give us a sense of what they're saying.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Well, just to give you an idea of the earthquake, there was 50 million people that felt some sort of shaking from this, so that is significant. Tokyo, of course, well east of the epicenter.

But in terms of this tsunami, we do have some initial video coming out. This is just to the south and east of Ishikawa prefecture. I'll show you a geographical map so you can get your bearings in just one moment.

But here is the wave. Remember, a tsunami is a series of waves. So just because you see this initial wave reaching -- this is the Saiki River coming up Joetsu, Japan.

And just because you see that initial surge of water doesn't mean that the threat for a tsunami wave is over. It doesn't mean that it's passed. There's a lot of energy associated with it and sometimes we can get five minutes to upwards of an hour in between those tsunami wave crests. And that is explicitly noted from some of the warnings from the U.S. Geological Survey, for instance.

And that video fits the narrative of the observed wave heights that we have seen -- 1.2 meters in the Ishikawa prefecture. That's roughly four feet. Similar values across the western shoreline of the Honshu region. That is the largest island within Japan.

But this prefecture here -- the Ishikawa prefecture where the major tsunami warning was initially issued sticks out. It kind of juts out from the west shoreline of the province. And that's significant because that can wrap around this water as it continues to slosh in and out of the bays.

But just looking at this geographical map, look what is to its west. The Korean Peninsula. Here is Russia. This is Japan. That's the island of Honshu. And with a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that water is propagated westward and eventually will slosh back and forth within this enclosed region. So that makes it particularly susceptible to a tsunami versus as if it was on the east side of the island of Japan -- or the nation of Japan.

So check this out -- the tsunami. How is it formed? We get this tectonic shift underneath the sea. And, of course, with this size of an earthquake, with this shallow of a nature for the epicenter, it is going to displace that seawater, and some of those observed buoy measurements on the surface of the ocean offshore were roughly one meter or roughly three feet.

And as that tsunami wave progressives closer to the coastline where you and I live or where people along the west coast of Japan live, the population densities -- that water has nowhere to go but up. It's basic bathymetry. This is all about the coastline, the sea bed -- how it naturally rises as it heads towards the coast. And, of course, that tsunami wave being a succession of waves, has to recede as it eventually draws out the water that it pushed inland so far -- John.

BERMAN: How long will this threat realistically be, Derek?

VAN DAM: Well, with a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, the potential -- and we have already seen aftershocks -- will continue for days if not weeks to come. And so, the potential here for a tsunami with the initial earthquake -- the 7.5 -- is generally within the first three to six hours. But if we have some of these larger aftershocks -- let's say 6.5 or higher -- then if that happens to be underwater again, that would of course raise the threat of tsunamis -- additional tsunamis not associated with the original earthquake.

But here's this population map. This is really important as well. Look at these numbers. We're talking nearly 44 million people feeling light shaking. A half million people feeling severe to violent shaking.

This is the Ishikawa prefecture over the western shoreline of Japan. And even though this isn't the most populated part of the country, nonetheless, there are several people who live here. And you've got to take into consideration the type of construction material that is used to build their homes, to build their apartment complexes. Some of it could be concrete -- more earthquake resistant -- but some of it could be wood as well. And with further aftershocks, John, if that structure is destabilized it won't take much to take down additional buildings.

BERMAN: All right, Derek Van Dam. Stick around for a moment if you will.

I want to bring in Stanley Goosby. He is the lead duty scientist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. If you are with us Stanley, give us a sense of what you're seeing at this moment.

[07:40:00]

STANLEY GOOSBY, CHIEF DUTY SCIENTIST, PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER: Well, what we've done on our side is that we issued the tsunami -- the tsunami threat message. The tsunami threat message was based on the earthquake parameters we received from the Japan Meteorological Agency.

And this is for countries within 300 kilometers of the epicenter, which included the DPR of Korea, Japan, and Russia. And then we also included in the threat message the Republic of Korea as well. The threat message for South Korea -- North Korea, Japan, and Russia was for waves potentially reaching from .3 to one meters in height. This is -- this is tide level. And then for the Republic of Korea, this would be less than .3 meters.

BERMAN: The geography --

GOOSBY: And so --

BERMAN: The geography in that area -- how does that impact the warnings and the level of danger?

GOOSBY: Well, the level of danger -- and again, what we -- what we were doing here -- and I wanted to emphasize what we were doing is that we were using the parameters -- the earthquake parameters of the JMA. And we use those in our models, right, to determine what level of threat that would result from this particular earthquake.

We know that for the location there's not a lot of gauges in that area -- in the west area there. So it was -- again -- and then, the way the bay is you could actually have some sloshing back and forth as it was pointed out earlier.

But from the tsunami perspective here, after we issued the initial message then we subsequently issued several supplemental messages. And then we finally issued a warning message -- excuse me, a tsunami information message five where the tsunami threat had largely -- had largely passed.

But what we wanted to still emphasize that you could -- you still could have wave action in coastal areas and that it was extremely important to follow the directions from the local emergency managers. And then, when you're in the areas to stay alert because again, you could still have significant wave action occurring.

VAN DAM: Dr. Goosby -- Dr. Goosby, I'm a meteorologist here at CNN and I've covered earthquakes in and around Japan for the better part of a decade working here at this channel. And the majority of the earthquakes that I've seen have been on the east shoreline or the eastern side of Japan. The tsunami threats there being more of a Pacific-wide tsunami threat.

But just looking at this map, why is this area so vulnerable to tsunami activity considering the geographic references of the Korean Peninsula and Russia to our west? What makes this area so susceptible to tsunamis?

GOOSBY: Um, yeah. On that particular point there I'm going to have to -- I have to defer on that because the way that bay is really, really closed in there, I guess if you have an earthquake there's a high chance that the wave can get sloshed back and forth there compared to -- compared to the Pacific side.

But it is a -- again, it's an area if you do have an event the tsunami there could be particularly destructive, as we see.

BERMAN: Dr. Goosby, the depth of this earthquake relatively shallow, which can lead to more destruction on the surface.

How does that impact potential tsunami threats?

GOOSBY: Well, the shallower the earthquake is, the more likely that you could have a very, very destructive tsunami. Typically, when we look at tsunami threats we're looking from 100 kilometers and up. And the -- and from the parameters that JMA had this rupture was right at the surface. And so, again, this would be a potentially very, very destructive tsunami.

BERMAN: Which is why you have so many people now on alert watching for potential threats along that entire western coast -- particularly, the region that we were looking at right there.

Stanley Goosby -- Dr. Goosby, thank you so much for being with us.

Derek Van Dam, our thanks to you as well. We'll check back in with you shortly.

For the first time, a direct confrontation between U.S. forces and Houthi rebels. This is happening in the Red Sea not far from the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

[07:45:00]

Our live special coverage continues next.

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BERMAN: You're looking at pictures we are just getting in from the earthquake -- the major earthquake -- 7.5. measuring.

This happened in western Japan in the Ishikawa prefecture. This is a prefecture with a population of over a million people. This powerful earthquake struck several hours ago. We are now seeing pictures of some of the damage and getting reports back.

The shaking was felt very far away. Millions and millions of people did feel this as it was happening. We're trying to get more information from the epicenter.

Again, the Ishikawa province, which is on the western coast of Japan -- there is a tsunami warning in effect there. The major tsunami warning has been reduced now, so the threat that they're expecting is somewhat lower than it was. But they are still expecting waves or a warning of waves that could be up to 10 feet.

You can see some of the images here from earlier this morning of the impact of this quake -- this, again, very powerful quake. And it was shallow as well, which can lead to greater damage on the surface.

Again, we're getting new information in and we will bring you much more of our breaking news coverage as that information comes in.

There is other news this morning -- major news from the Red Sea where the U.S. Navy has confirmed that two of its helicopters returned fire and sank three Houthi Rebel boats, killing everyone on board. The incident follows an attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis over the weekend.

[07:50:00]

This is the first time there has been a direct confrontation between the U.S. and Houthi rebels, at least of this nature -- certainly, helicopters and these vessels.

They have been targeting -- the Houthis have been targeting ships in the area showing their support for Hamas since October 7.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is in Washington watching this for us this morning. What are you learning, Natasha?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, John. So this incident happened as a Maersk merchant vessel was passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the southern Red Sea heading from Singapore to the Suez -- up through the Suez Canal. And it happened right off the coast of Yemen there -- of course, where these Iran-backed Houthis operate.

At a certain point, they were hit by an unknown object, according to Maersk and according to the U.S. military, but they were able to continue on. However, a little bit later, four boats containing these Houthi militants -- they tried to approach the vessel -- the merchant vessel and they tried to board it.

They opened fire, according to Maersk, and that is when Maersk issued a second distress call in just under 24 hours to the U.S. military -- which, of course, is operating in the area amid all of these Iran- backed Houthi attacks on commercial shipping there.

And at that point, the U.S. deployed helicopters from the aircraft carrier Eisenhower, as well as a U.S. Navy destroyer, and they engaged with the Houthis. The Houthis started opening fire on the helicopters and the helicopters then responded in self-defense, according to U.S. Central Command. However, at that point, that is when the U.S. military killed everyone on those -- on three of those Houthi ships because they sank those vessels, they say, in self-defense.

Now, Maersk says that at this point, it is trying to assess the security of the area, of course. It had previously paused its operations in the southern Red Sea while all of this is going on. And the U.S. has deployed what they called Operation Prosperity

Guardian in the southern Red Sea to try to bulk up security there. It's a multinational maritime coalition that they had hoped would deter the Houthi rebels from attacking commercial shipping in the area. Clearly, it has not.

However, as you noted, John, this is a major escalation because it is the first time that the U.S. military has killed these Houthi militants and it marks the first time there is that direct confrontation between them.

BERMAN: And again, this comes as the United States says it wants to prevent a wider conflict in the Middle East, or at least the conflict that we're seeing between Israel and Hamas from spreading. But clearly, it is.

BERTRAND: Right. And National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby -- he did say just yesterday that the U.S. is not seeking a conflict wider in the region and not looking for a conflict with the Houthis. But clearly, the cat is out of the bag here. The Houthis have said that they are going to continue to attack ships in the area regardless, really, of the U.S. and multinational presence there. Because they are saying they are doing it in solidarity with the Palestinians, with Gaza.

And the multinational coalition has been forced to respond in many instances, shooting down missiles and drones that the Houthis have launched. And the U.K. just said yesterday -- the defense minister -- that, quote, "We are willing to take direct action and won't hesitate to take further action."

So what remains to be seen, of course, is whether the U.S. takes that additional step in actually striking the Houthis directly inside Yemen, John.

BERMAN: All right, Natasha Bertrand in Washington watching this for us. Keep us posted.

We have other new developments this morning from Ukraine. Russian leader Vladimir Putin said moments ago that Russia will increase its airstrikes on Ukraine in the coming days, weeks, and months. This comes as Ukraine says that Odesa, on the Black Sea coast, came under assault from unmanned Russian drones just hours into the new year. One person died and at least nine were injured.

New Year's Day was officially declared a day of mourning in Ukraine where the death toll is climbing after the large-scale attacks from Russia a couple of days ago. Search and rescue operations are still underway in Kyiv where at least 28 people were killed and 30 injured. At least 53 people across Ukraine were killed in that large-scale attack.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is watching this for us. Clare, what are you learning this morning?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, John.

Look, I think even before we heard from President Putin who was speaking at a military rehabilitation hospital this morning, it was pretty clear given the events of the last few days that Russia is stepping up the intense -- intensity of its air war with those missile and drone attacks.

On Friday, New Year's Eve, you saw, according to the Ukrainian air force, some 90 drones. They say it was a record amount fired at Ukraine in which they were able to avert 87 of them.

But still, hearing it from Putin saying it out loud they are going to step up. He says strikes on Ukraine's military installations and things like that. So it seems that the air war is now growing in importance -- perhaps inevitable given the lack of movement on the front lines.

[07:55:02]

So look, almost all regions of Ukraine on New Year's Eve facing an air alert -- as I said, those 90 drones. These numbers are very significant. This may be a message not only to Ukraine but also to the U.S. where, of course, Ukraine has now been promised the last package of military aid unless, of course, Congress approves more funding.

But Russia is willing and able to exploit the gaps in Ukraine's arsenal and exploit the gaps in its Western weapon supplies, John.

BERMAN: It's almost as if Vladimir Putin is taunting the United States as the Congress here seems to be deadlocked on whether to provide new aid to Ukraine.

What are you hearing from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy?

SEBASTIAN: Yes. So we had New Year's addresses both from Putin and Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy's was much longer -- some 20 minutes compared to this 3 1/2 or so that Putin spoke for. And he did what we've traditionally heard him do, which was really to try to accentuate the positive. To try to build up Ukrainian morale, which has been really tested at the moment, especially because of what is going on in Congress.

So he talked about the diplomatic achievements over the years. The number of weapons packages that Ukraine has got. The decision by the EU to start negotiations towards EU membership for Ukraine. And he sort of talked about Ukrainian bravery and strengths. That Ukraine is going to get stronger.

So look, he struck a resilient tone. He said that Ukraine is going to massively step up domestic production of weapons. But is clear that Ukraine is going into the new -- into the new year especially vulnerable -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Clare Sebastian. Thank you very much for that.

We have breaking news coverage this morning of this powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Japan. We're getting new video just in. You can see these cars shaking at a parking garage.

We're live on the ground in Tokyo. Stay with us.

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