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Earthquake In Southern Pacific Ocean; Online Crackdown of Sexual Predators; Bird Flu Pandemic Planning

Aired May 03, 2006 - 14:01   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Jacqui Jeras, you brought us the good news after the frightening news. But it looks like everything is OK with regard to these tsunami warnings. They're pretty much gone.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It looks -- yes, all the warnings are gone right now. The officials say, though, that the threat isn't completely over with, that it's up to the local authorities to say you have the all-clear, because some waves were generated, and that happened in Niue, also in Pago Pago and the America Samoa area right up into this area. It was 40 centimeters, or about 16 inches. So it was very small, but there are also some very small remote islands. So they could have seen a little bit more of a wave, they say.

So, you have to wait two hours before you haven't seen any significant wave action before you can really determine that the all- clear has been issued. But they think for the greater Pacific, we don't have anything to worry about any longer. And it looks like we may have gotten off very easy. But you never want to take any anything lightly when it comes to tsunamis, as we learned back in December of the past year, as you recall.

Also, just something to keep in mind. This was a 7.8 magnitude, so a very powerful earthquake that certainly could have generated a very large tsunami. This is a very active part of the world where two plates come together, and earthquakes are very frequent in this area.

Hawaii -- we were talking about that -- was under a watch earlier. That had been downgraded to an advisory. And they say there might be some minor fluctuations in the sea level. Nothing to be concerned of, but not necessarily a great day to be out there boating. So, marine interests need to really pay attention to this one as well -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui. Thanks so much.

We've got David Wald with us, a seismologist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.

David, when the earthquake first struck, kind of tell me how it rumbled there in your center, How do you jump into action when something like that happens?

DAVID WALD, SEISMOLOGIST: Well, we have some alarms that go off, and our pager messages come out very quickly. And we had a preliminary magnitude of 8, and that is a great earthquake which only happens every year or two. So that was a call for action.

Initially, with a magnitude 8 earthquake you could have a tsunami. It's not necessarily true that you will, but it's a large enough where the warning will go out automatically, and then it's a wait-and-see process.

PHILLIPS: And give us kind of the technological explanation, or the scientific explanation, I should say, when you do have an earthquake, let's say it was -- we thought initially it was an 8, right? What is it that happens that triggers that fear of a tsunami?

WALD: Well, a magnitude 8 is a large earthquake under -- and it's under the ocean, so the chances of a tsunami are there. It takes some time for us to determine how large that earthquake is. The energy has to travel from that earthquake to our seismic sensors. So, there's some time delay before we can get the magnitude of the earthquake. In this case, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake has the probability of a tsunami but not necessarily a guarantee.

PHILLIPS: Where are your seismic sensors?

WALD: Well, they're all over the globe, but, of course, they're on the land. So we have the nearest islands that are the limitation to what time it takes to get the energy from the source, the earthquake source, to our seismic station. And as time goes on, more of our seismic sensors record the information and we can get a more accurate location of magnitude.

PHILLIPS: So, then when did you realize it was not of 8 magnitude, and when were you able to feel confident that those tsunami warnings could go away?

WALD: Well, the warnings -- with a magnitude 8 earthquake, that is the -- above the threshold for which a tsunami warning will go out no matter what in this oceanic -- oceanic environment. Within -- the only way to really determine whether it's happened is to see what happens on to shore and to look at tide gauges. And so that information takes time to get back.

PHILLIPS: So -- OK. So, with regard to the tide gauges -- now, just thinking about last year and what we saw happen when that tsunami hit, it's been a year. And so, when this happened, do we know how folks responded?

I mean, we had talked with a woman from Seattle who was in Tonga. She was in a hotel. All the power went out. She totally said she totally felt that earthquake, but no one told her what to do. They weren't really responding and telling folks what the next step should be.

So, was anything learned from a year ago, and did you hear of anybody taking any kind of plan of action and doing the tide gauges, et cetera, to see if folks needed to, you know, get to safety?

WALD: Well, it seems to me that there is a much higher level of awareness at this point, and the memory of the December 2004 tsunami is really the source of that. But keep in mind, that was a much larger earthquake. That was a magnitude 9 earthquake, the Sumatra earthquake that -- and that wave reached across the ocean.

For a magnitude 8 earthquake, it's very unusual for the waves to reach that far. And so, while there was great concern -- and I'm glad to see the people are much more aware of the situation -- a warning is just that. It's not a guarantee that the tsunami will actually be generated. There was a local tsunami here of moderate size, and that's still to be determined how -- what impact it has locally.

PHILLIPS: David Wald, seismologist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado.

David, thanks so much.

WALD: Sure thing.

PHILLIPS: And I'm told we've got Paula Chipman back on the phone. She is that tourist from Seattle we told you about. She's in Tonga, she felt that quake.

Paula, when we talked to you just a little while ago, you were saying that you weren't getting information, you weren't sure what you were supposed to do next. Have you received anything, anything else from management there at the hotel?

PAULA CHIPMAN, U.S. TOURIST IN TONGA: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

PHILLIPS: Really? So what's the situation? Are you still dealing with the power outage and generators going?

CHIPMAN: Power has come back on, on some of the -- some of the buildings. It looks like streetlights, what have you, up and down the street. It's early morning, it's just getting daylight.

People are out walking all over the place. And there was some other guests that were here in the hotel, and he walked out and said he didn't see any damage at all. So I don't know.

PHILLIPS: Oh, so no report of damage outside of the hotel?

CHIPMAN: Not that -- I mean, you know, this is a very small, confined area, so I don't know how far he walked, a couple blocks? But he didn't see anything.

PHILLIPS: Are you going to stick around or are you going to try and get out of there?

CHIPMAN: I don't know. We don't know what the status of the airport is either. We have heard nothing.

PHILLIPS: Have you been able to find any managers, any general managers...

CHIPMAN: No. No. PHILLIPS: ... or managers around the hotel to get any information?

CHIPMAN: No. No.

PHILLIPS: There's nobody around?

CHIPMAN: No. There's -- no. Absolutely not.

PHILLIPS: I wish there was something we could do to help you out, Paula. Is there anything we can do?

CHIPMAN: Oh, I don't -- I wish you could, but I don't know what it would be at this point in time. We just kind of -- and plus, today is a holiday. It's the prince's birthday. So I'm not really sure what will happen.

PHILLIPS: Now, when you felt this...

CHIPMAN: Everything is pretty much shut down on this holiday, so I don't know if it is, in fact, going to be a holiday or if they're going -- somebody is going to come out and do some checking. I don't know.

PHILLIPS: All right. When you felt the earthquake, what was it -- how long do you think it's been since you felt the earthquake?

CHIPMAN: It probably happened at 4:30 a.m., and it's now five after -- roughly five after 7:00 a.m.

PHILLIPS: OK. And just for one last time, describe to our viewers what exactly you felt.

CHIPMAN: Oh, it was very, very hard. Shaking up and down, back and forth. Very, very hard. I've never felt anything like it in my life.

PHILLIPS: All right, Paula.

CHIPMAN: Guests on the third floor...

PHILLIPS: Right?

CHIPMAN: ... felt the whole building go back and forth. I was on the bottom floor. It's an three-story building, an older three- story building. It scared the hell out of me.

PHILLIPS: Pretty amazing that it's still standing.

CHIPMAN: I didn't want to be -- I guess. I don't know. I mean, I don't believe they do retrofitting here by any means.

PHILLIPS: You don't see any damage, though, to the hotel?

CHIPMAN: Well, I haven't been outside. I mean, I've been outside in the street, but I haven't been out since it's light. I've just kind of been in the lobby area.

PHILLIPS: All right, Paula. We're going...

CHIPMAN: No, I don't want to go back -- I don't want to go back in that area.

PHILLIPS: I don't blame you. Well, we're going to keep in touch with you and find out if you get any more information and if, indeed, they're giving you all warnings to get out of there. But Paula, we sure appreciate you talking with us.

CHIPMAN: Well, I appreciate your call. Nice to know there's somebody out.

PHILLIPS: We're paying attention. Trust me. Thanks, Paula.

CHIPMAN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Let's get to Carol Lin. She's working on a developing story, something to do with an aircraft in Texas.

What's going on, Carol?

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Kyra.

A Continental Airlines flight. We were just watching it land live. And according to our affiliate KPRC, this is the plane that passengers and crew heard something unusual upon takeoff out of Bogota, Colombia.

Now, unusual sounds on takeoff, that's going to get anybody worried, right? But they decided, well, they're going to continue with the flight. They headed straight for Houston.

You're seeing that the airplane, it did have its landing gears down, Kyra, because I was watching it come in. And you see that it's being circled by some emergency response vehicles.

But there were no sparks. It seemed like a completely total -- totally normal landing. But we know that it just took off around 8:00 this morning local time out of Colombia and that the crew checked out whatever that noise was and decided to continue the flight.

Now, Continental would not confirm if there was any sort of issue with the tires on the front landing gear, which is what our affiliate KPRC had originally heard. So there was no emergency declared, but we had expected this flight in about 20 minutes, but it came in early.

And you're watching as I'm watching right now, Kyra, that for some reason they decided to stop short of the terminal building. But, by appearance, this plane was coming in, its landing gear was down, and so far everything appeared normal, accept that, for example, the fire crews here are not exactly. You know, they may be in phone contact with the pilot, but they're not approaching the airplane just yet.

PHILLIPS: All right, Carol. We'll keep our eyes on it. Thanks so much.

Those live pictures coming to us from KPRC

Well, it's the most sinister side of the Word Wide Web, the side where adults prey on children, and no child who ventures online is immune. Congress is considering even tougher treatment of Internet predators and hears today from the young girl who inspired it.

CNN's David Mattingly has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In June 2001, investigator believe a Pittsburgh engineer took his adopted daughter to a Disney resort in Orlando where they suspect he sexually abused and photographed the blond-haired child, then posted her pictures on the Internet.

DET. SGT. PAUL GILLESPIE, TORONTO POLICE: It's horrific abuse of a very young, vulnerable child. And you just -- once you've seen the images and you've seen the collection that this -- this set of pictures is, it really breaks your heart.

MATTINGLY: So from hotel rooms in Orlando, to chat rooms in Toronto, investigators mounted an extraordinary search and then this surprising announcement.

LT. MATT IRWIN, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: We have located the victim in our case.

MATTINGLY: While detectives in two countries took their very public manhunt to more than a dozen states, the girl had already been rescued. Her adoptive father already convicted and imprisoned by federal authorities back in 2003. That's when the FBI learned that the disturbing photos didn't begin to tell this little girl's story. MARY

BETH BUCHANAN, U.S. ATTORNEY: Based upon all the evidence that we had seen, it does appear that the adoption was motivated by the defendant's interest in sexual activity, illegal sexual activity with children.

MATTINGLY: U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan of western Pennsylvania describes how the girl had been adopted from Russia at the age of five by a 45-year-old divorced engineer working with agencies in the U.S. and abroad. Buchanan says he sexually abused the girl throughout the years that followed. Even kept her on a strict diet to the make her look younger.

BUCHANAN: The child at age 11 did appear to be younger than an 11-year-old child. And the types of illegal material that this suspect was trying to obtain on the Internet would involve children who were of the age of approximately eight to 10, and specifically he was looking for images of young children who appeared -- who had a very thin appearance.

MATTINGLY: The FBI pursued the girl's adoptive father from a child porn chat room to his home in a rural suburb of Pittsburgh. That's where they found computerized evidence of child pornography and his tormented victim.

BUCHANAN: We believe that this was the first opportunity that this child had to disclose the activities that had been occurring to her. And luckily, the federal law enforcement agents who were executing the search were well-trained in investigating cases involving child sexual exploitation.

MATTINGLY: The girl was immediately placed in foster care and has since been adopt by a new family far from the home where she endured such pain. Her abuser got the maximum sentence possible at the time, 15 years in prison for producing and possessing child pornography.

But more than 200 explicit photos of the girl continue to be traded by Internet pedophiles around the world where they later caught the attention of authorities in Europe, who alerted detectives in Toronto, where a second investigation was launched on a case that had already been solved.

(on camera): But detectives working this case say their experience will not be remembered as a complete waste of time. The search for this girl resulted in a series of law enforcement breakthroughs that may make it easier to find other victims of child pornography.

(voice over): The Toronto police developed the idea of using computers to remove the victim from photographs and to re-creating the rooms behind them. What they came up with were surprisingly accurate photos of crime scenes that they could share with the public. For example, the bedspread in this photo led them to the Disney resort in Orlando. These bricks, spotted in some of the photos, were identified by experts and led the investigators to believe that the girl was in Pennsylvania.

David Mattingly, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And in just a few minutes I'm going to speak with a Toronto detective who knows this case inside and out. As a matter of fact, he was interviewed in David's piece there. He's worked it since the very beginning.

Sergeant Paul Gillespie joins me later this hour.

If bird flu ever becomes a human pandemic, he'll be leading the fight. Dr. David Nabarro joins me next on what the White House plans to do if that worst case scenario happens. We'll see what he thinks about it.

The news keeps coming. We'll be bringing it to you More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Seasonal flu might give you a fever, but a flu pandemic would send a chill around the world. Governments, businesses, hospitals, schools, everything would be affected. And no one knows that more than Dr. David Nabarro. He's a longtime public health expert and the top official on the Human and Avian Influenza at the United Nations. He joins me live from Washington.

A pleasure to have you, sir.

DR. DAVID NABARRO, U.N. SYSTEM INFLUENZA COORD.: It's nice to be with you again.

PHILLIPS: Well, do you think that bird flu is the next human pandemic?

NABARRO: You know, I don't know what's going to cause the next human pandemic, but what I do know is that we will get one, one day. And pandemic means a disease that affects the whole of the world, so it will be a communicable disease that puts us all at risk, and it will come from somewhere, sometime, and could cause a lot of suffering.

PHILLIPS: So, do you think the world is definitely overdue for a pandemic?

NABARRO: Yes. Again, careful on my choice of words, but certainly pandemics do come at intervals. And we haven't had one for more than 35 years. So, it's quite possible that we will get one before too long.

PHILLIPS: So, you've talked about this a lot in the past, and that's flu fatigue. We're talking so much about it on the news, we're seeing it in the newspapers. It's all over the place. And people are starting to sort of glaze over the headlines.

Do you think that is where we are right now, or do you think this White House strategy coming out is good timing and people are really starting to pay attention?

NABARRO: Well, I think you underestimate the power of organizations like CNN. People are paying a lot of attention to the talk about both bird flu affecting birds and causing a lot of damage around the world, and also the potential risk of a pandemic. Certainly, I'm being asked by governments, by community organizations and others to bring them up to date.

I don't think there's fatigue. I think there's real interest. And what we've just seen produced by the U.S. government this morning is a very interesting document. In November last year, President Bush issued the United States' strategy for pandemic flu, and today his team of experts produced their operational plan which sets out exactly what the U.S. government will do to ensure that when the pandemic does come, it doesn't affect too many people and cause too much damage.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, let's talk about the strategy. And we heard a lot of specifics coming out of the White House today.

Stockpiling vaccines, where exactly are we on developing a new one which is specifically for human bird flu -- for a human bird flu strain?

NABARRO: Well, when we get the pandemic starting, we're not going to be able to have a vaccine straight away, because it will take some time for the new virus that causes the pandemic to be then used as the base for a vaccine. We're talking about several months.

And that's why this plan is important, because it spells out other actions besides vaccines, even besides medicines, that need to be adopted by communities, by work places, by church groups, in order to help ensure that people have as great a chance as possible of surviving the pandemic when it comes.

PHILLIPS: Quarantines, how do you get people to comply, and how do you orchestrate it?

NABARRO: You know, one of the reasons why we have government is to help deal with the sorts of the things that are too difficult for people to be able to handle themselves. And issues like "quarantine," as you put it -- and we use other terms as well, like social distancing, which is keeping people distant from each other to reduce the risk that they'll get the disease, those have to be handled by the government.

The government has to be the one that decides when to do it, which areas to be put under this kind of restriction, and then we have to take advantage of the existence of police and other security forces to help make sure that it happens.

But I want to add, all the experience from other countries and other situations where there have been major disease outbreaks have been associated with very rational behavior on the part of the people. Provided they know what they've got to do, they know the risks. And they're pretty well prepared to organize themselves to reduce their risks.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's interesting, because there has been talk, what if there is a little civil unrest? You're going to have to bring in the National Guard. Is it safe to have this lined up? Do you think it could get that chaotic?

NABARRO: I think we've seen in other disasters in other places in the recent past that although the majority of people will behave in a very careful and reasoned way, that there will be some individuals who get very distressed. There will be people whose lives are turned upside-down, and they will feel that they've been unjustly treated.

And there may even be groups of people who get frustrated. And so, it's a sensible precaution to make sure that there are people to help ensure that rules are kept. But I don't think I'd say that the National Guard or others will be right at the forefront.

I believe, as I said, that work places and churches and youth groups and Red Cross and so on will help people to organize themselves. But you just need that backup there just in case.

PHILLIPS: Restricting travel, that was something else the White House talked about. Do you think that's a good idea? And how would you do that?

NABARRO: Well, one of the things that we're realizing is that, yes, restricting travel is going to be important in limiting the spread of influenza. But what I think we're also working on is trying to ensure that you don't completely ban all travel everywhere straight away. That you, in fact, are very selective about which travel you restrict, and also, you introduce the possibility of screening of people before they travel.

When we had the SARS outbreak in 2003, there were a relatively small number of people who died, but there was a lot of damage as a result of the economic consequences. And part of that was due to fairly dramatic restrictions on travel.

I think what we'll see now as a result of this planning that's being done is a fairly careful approach to restricting travel. It will be important, but not everywhere.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Nabarro, I have to ask you this, because you said that maybe I'm underestimating the power of the media or the power of CNN when I asked you about this flu fatigue and if people are really paying attention. I mean, I asked you that because I would say probably within the past two or three months I've had just various individuals, from neighbors, to, you know, other organizations come up to me and give me, you know, the famous question, "Do you really think it's going to happen? And if it does, what do we do?"

I mean, there are still a lot of people out there that are in the dark, and they really don't believe that this could happen.

NABARRO: You know, it's so interesting, isn't it, that we do very much like to hope that something terrible won't happen. That's the way we are. We're made like that. That's how human beings survive, is that they rationalize very unpleasant events and threats.

But I'm afraid that it may well happen. I don't want to say it's going to happen, because that would be a very unwise thing to do. But all the people that I speak to in the business say we must be prepared for a pandemic.

We've got nature's warnings staring us in the face. And if we get prepared, we can limit its consequences.

So, I just say to everybody, "Do please pay attention, please try to get prepared." There are really good Web sites that have been set up. And most importantly, do look on this as a piece of work by government that could well prove to be something that saves not only your lives, but the lives of hundreds and thousands, even millions of other people as well.

PHILLIPS: Great point on the Web sites. PandemicFlu.gov, we were...

NABARRO: That's the one.

PHILLIPS: That's the one we were looking at today, PandemicFlu.gov. There's actually a checklist on there and a lot of great information.

Dr. David Nabarro, thank you so much -- oh, I'm told it's PandemicFlu.org. I'm sorry.

Is it PandemicFlu.org, Dr. Nabarro? Is that right?

NABARRO: I've just got it in front of me here. Excuse me looking down while on camera.

PHILLIPS: Just a double check. That's all right.

NABARRO: Yes. Yes, PandemicFlu.gov.

PHILLIPS: Oh, it is PandemicFlu.gov.

NABARRO: WWW.PandemicFlu.gov.

PHILLIPS: OK. Good. That's what I had written down, too, PandemicFlu.gov.

Dr. David Nabarro, thanks so much.

NABARRO: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.

NABARRO: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: It's still just a pandemic for birds, but even as scientists keep a wary eye on bird flu's potential to mutate, Egypt reports its 13th human case. The World Health Organization confirms the report.

A 27-year-old woman reportedly falling ill after slaughtering a number of chickens. Well, she's hospitalized in stable condition. Four Egyptians have died after contracting the H5N1 virus.

Now, worldwide, 205 people have been infected with bird flu, 113 have died.

Are you getting enough bang for your buck when you hit the highway in that family sedan? Well, we're talking fuel, economy, and what the government wants to require.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you.

More LIVE FROM coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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