Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Over 300 Confirmed Dead in Chile Earthquake; Tsunami Warnings Lifted
Aired February 28, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We want to welcome you across the U.S. and around the world for watching. It is February 28th. Good morning everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rob Marciano. Thank you so much for starting your day with us. Let's get to what the breaking news is this morning. It is 6:00 a.m. here in Atlanta and 8:00 a.m. in Concepcion, Chile. A day after a devastating earthquake there. Actually I think it is 4:00 a.m. there.
Some 500,000 buildings and structures like this bridge take a look have been damaged or destroyed. The pictures coming in are certainly remarkable, and we've got more to tell you about today.
NGUYEN: Yes, let's get to more of that information. In fact, we are learning that some 300 people are dead, but the death toll is expected to rise. We'll get an update from the government this morning at 10:00 Eastern. We also expect to hear more about the search for people who may be trapped in the rubble of yesterday's 8.8 magnitude quake.
Just about an hour ago, all tsunami warnings for the Pacific were canceled. Yesterday when we were covering this story, some experts were saying a tsunami could sweep across the region. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already had planned a Latin America trip before the quake struck, and that is still on. She's scheduled to be in the country on Tuesday.
MARCIANO: On the other side of the Pacific, tsunami waves hit Japan for sure. One of them measured 4 inches, and then the next one measured about a meter, so certainly a bit of a scare there. Let's find out what's happening in Japan. We go now to Kyung Lah who is in Tokyo for us. Kyung tell us what the scene is like there. Is there any relief or are they still on edge?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well there's certainly a lot of relief compared to what it was like a couple hours ago, Rob. Hundreds of thousands of people evacuating out of Japan's coastline. Just to give you a little perspective, this wasn't just one small section of Japan, it was the entire coastline that faces the Pacific, and so all these people were told to get out of the low-lying areas. And the government sounded the alarm quite early and rang it quite loudly. This was the highest tsunami alert that we have seen here in Japan in some 15 years.
So people evacuating, trying to get out, but when the waves actually hit, the first one was quite small, but then some of the larger ones were about four feet tall. There was some flooding in some of the northern part of the country, but as far as widespread devastation, that simply didn't happen. We don't have any reports of injuries, also according to the National Police Agency here. So certainly Japan feeling like they dodged the bullet on this one, Rob.
MARCIANO: Tell me Kyung, this is the fourth time in 52 years that the agency there has had to put out a major tsunami warning. Are they worried about some of the northern parts of the island, maybe sloshing back some of the waves on that side of the island?
LAH: They are a little concerned about that. What they are concerned about is that there might be some sort of a delay in the tsunamis, so there's a bit of a concern that as there's the first wave coming in, there could be something further on, but what we have heard from the U.S. side is that it is not a concern right now, they have dodged the bullet. Things appear to be safe. Japan's government, though, not completely lifting the tsunami alert for now, Rob.
MARCIANO: Kyung Lah live for us in Tokyo, thank you very much. We'll check back with you later.
NGUYEN: All right. So we are just over 24 hours since the 8.8 earthquake churned more than 450 miles off the Chilean coastline. This is one of the most powerful earthquakes ever measured, and the damage in Chile is just staggering.
MARCIANO: It certainly is. More than a million homes are damaged in some capacity. Countless bridges and roads destroyed. The Chilean ambassador to the U.N. tells us everything is under control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERALDO MUNOZ, CHILEAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N: The situation is under control in the sense that we have displayed all the resources that the country has. You must recall that Chile is a country with a history of earthquakes, so we have very stringent building regulations; we have the capacity to mobilize resources in order to help the population. And that has been going on throughout the day.
Evidently, with some major obstacles. For example, the Latin American Highway that crosses Chile from north to south has been cut in several places with bridges that have collapsed, with the actual highway that has been cut. And damages, particularly around the city of Concepcion with high-rises that have fallen, old buildings that have suffered major damage. In Santiago, the airport is closed due to severe damage in the terminal. So this is a major tragedy for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, just within the last few minutes, we did get word that the tsunami warnings are now canceled for all countries. We'll show you new video from Chile that is coming into us every minute. I want you to listen to this moment of panic just after the quake hit.
[Speaking foreign language]
NGUYEN: Let me show you some more dramatic images coming up right here on CNN.
MARCIANO: Plus, many who evacuated their homes along the coastline well they still haven't gone home yet. They are still nervous. We'll check in with meteorologist Bonnie Schneider.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Here's a quick look at our major story today. The aftermath from that 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile. The death toll stands at more than 300 people, but that is expected to rise. The government will update us on the death toll at 10:00 Eastern this morning. We'll be following that for you.
Also, we expect to learn more about the search for people who may be trapped underneath rubble. Just about an hour ago, all tsunami warnings, though, for the Pacific, they were canceled. And yesterday when we were covering this story, some experts were saying a tsunami could sweep across the region. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already had planned a Latin American trip before the quake struck that is still on. She is scheduled to be in Chile on Tuesday.
MARCIANO: Bonnie Schneider now joining us here in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Boy it's been a long 24 hours after that quake with all the tsunami warnings up and down the coastlines of the Americas and, of course, over to Tokyo. They are just now canceling the tsunami warnings for Japan, but the Japanese agencies haven't dropped their advisories.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the Japanese meteorological agency, the local agency is governing each country knows their weather best, just like a lot of places you know have little nuances. That is why they are still keeping the warnings in effect, but many have already expired. We want to take a look at that and also show you some of the other areas that were at risk. You can see that Japan did see a wave height of 1.2 meters that is only a few feet, so not too bad.
The problem is sometimes you do see secondary waves as these storms come through, these tsunami waves. Remember, it is not like a typical wave, we can see the rush of water come suddenly and it can build as you can imagine one after the other.
Well, take a look at this map. This shows that we are now at least, which some good news, past the 21-hour mark from the original quake from the original rush of water coming towards Japan. That was the last spot that we are watching, but as I mentioned before, the local agency here in Japan is still keeping their warnings up, particularly for the coastal areas. And there's a reason for that. You can see here the line of the coastline is very, very curved. We have a lot of inlets, a lot of bays, and those regions can really pool the water in almost like a funnel. That's why they are still saying not quite yet out of the woods, possibly, for a tsunami, but the good news is generally speaking, we are in much better shape than where we were 24 hours ago when we were monitoring tsunamis around the Pacific, all the way from Alaska to Australia, along this area known as the ring of fire where we to tend see so many earthquakes.
And speaking of quakes, I want to show you recent images that have just come in from NASA. Now, what you are going to see is a before picture, February 24th, and you are looking at areas where you can see the quake actually occurred. So far, you are not seeing anything, but look at the after picture. The NASA satellite was actually able to pick up the smoke, and that's right near Santiago. You can see the smoke even from outer space.
Now, that was taken shortly after the quake. What's happening now? Well, this is exactly what we expected. When you have a quake of magnitude 8.8, certainly, you are going to see multiple aftershocks. Look at this on Google earth; I plotted the most recent aftershocks highlighted in yellow and in orange. There are well over 100 of them. The problem is that we started off so strong with an 8.8 magnitude that we are likely to see strong aftershocks continuing certainly for the next 24 hours, but these aftershocks, Betty and Rob, can go on for months because of the size and strength of this incredible earthquake.
NGUYEN: Yes, and we are also still seeing a few aftershocks to in Haiti following that. So that's just testament that they can continue for quite some time.
MARCIANO: Especially a big one like this. A dangerous situation for sure ongoing. Thank you, Bonnie Schneider. We'll check back in with you in just a little bit.
NGUYEN: You know a lot of people are turning to twitter and facebook and these social media sites to seek comfort, find some loved ones. Josh Levs is tracking that for us. What are you finding out, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, guys I will tell you something, it's been really interesting phenomenon we have been watching over the past 24 hours. The twitter traffic has been moving in a lot of ways just like the waves throughout the entire Pacific region. I'm going to trace you through that.
Also, some pretty stunning photos and videos that we have been getting from our own I-reporters coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: You know, there is one thing that's pretty obvious in covering the unfolding catastrophe in Chile. And that is that there's a growing role for social media. And that's helping to get the word out, not only about what's happening on the ground closest to where all the damage is, but also when it comes to finding people that may have been lost in this tragedy.
MARCIANO: Yes. Anything disastrous in the last five years really the social media sites have played a huge role. CNN's Josh Levs has the latest today's news gathering online. What are you fining, Josh?
LEVS: We are following all sorts of angles on this. We are going to be talking about twitter and facebook in just a moment, but I want to start off with the most interesting photos that we have been getting from our own I-reports. We have screens that we can show you right here that we have been looking at a lot of them.
Here's my screen, first, but we'll look at this from Helen who is inside Santiago. She took picture there is of some buildings that she saw affected throughout the region. Look at that. The top of the building is just gone. And in a lot of cases, we are seeing similar things really beautiful, and in some cases, really old, important structures that tourists would often go see. Look at that. Rubble strewn throughout the streets. We have found that our I-reporters are an incredible resource in the midst of some real tragedies.
I also have a video for you from an I-reporter who sent this in. We'll take a look at this. This is a guy who had been at a disco when it all started to happen. He had first thought maybe people were just dancing too heavy, didn't understand what was going on. When people figured out what was going on, they fled and went to their homes.
Here he is, Mirko Vukasovich checking out his house, he sent us this I-report. He says it is usually pristine and he takes care of it. This is his home there in Santiago. We encourage you to send along your I-reporters, you photos and videos. I'll show you more throughout the morning.
Now, let's jump over to twitter. Can you get a shot of this screen, this is really interesting. There are things called twit picks. People on twitter send out a lot of photos. This Website has pulled together some of the most extraordinary pictures from the site. There's one I'm going to stop on because I think it is particularly striking. Look at this right here. Can you get way in so people can see what that says? That sign right there on its side says internet. This was the internet cafe. We are seeing a lot of these areas from various cities in the stricken region all in Chile, all there showing up on twitter.
What we have also seen is that a lot of people are doing searches on twitter for information and sharing a lot of information. I can show you right here, if you want to get the latest information at all times on twitter, go to CNNbrk, which is our breaking news site within the twitter verse. As soon as we get major confirmed information, we'll post it here, CNNbrk.
Also, a lot of people are getting information about Chile. Search for Chile on twitter and you can see what people are putting there. And for information on Hawaii, they come up with Hitsunami and people are continuing to write today about the results of what happened yesterday. How it affected people, how many people are affected. And in some case, what they are doing now? Are they getting back to normal life?
We're going to follow a lot more of these, and we'll also going to be telling you later on this morning about how some scammers out there, guys are already trying to take advantage of people online who are trying to reach out and help those stuck in this tragedy. Unbelievable. People will take advantage of this.
NGUYEN: I want to say, are you kidding me? But unfortunately we hear this every time.
LEVS: It is sick.
MARCIANO: Raise the red flag on them, Josh. We'll try to alert folks.
LEVS: We got them. See you, guys.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Josh.
Lets check in now with Brian Byrnes who is live for us in Santiago, Chile. He's been traveling from Buenos Aires and on his way to Concepcion. Give me an idea if you would of what you have been seeing in the form of damage as you go across the country and just witness for yourself what this earthquake did.
BRIAN BYRNES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Betty, I can tell you we arrived here in Santiago five or six hours ago. As you mentioned, we did cross over the Andes last night from Argentina. We didn't see damage to Argentina, but as soon as we got here to Chile and especially as we close to Santiago, we did start seeing damage. The highway that essentially connects the Andes to the city of Santiago was damaged in many locations.
We saw a few overpasses that were collapsed into the highway. In fact, we had to divert off the highway onto a side rural route. Then we were later able to reconnect with it, but there were some overpasses down, the electricity was down in much of the area north of the city. We saw a few families camping out in tents in plazas because they had no electricity and likely no access to water.
We also saw open fires going on. I do not think those fires were caused by anything having to do with the earthquake, but people were trying to stay warm and cooking food as well. When we got here into the city, we did start to see more damage. I saw a lot of broken glass, a lot of big buildings had damage. One of the things that really struck me the most was an old church that was built in the late 1800s. The steeple, essentially, had collapsed from the church and it looked like a scene from a disaster movie, a sci-fi movie, a very, obviously, historic building pretty much collapsed. And very precarious, the steeple was hanging down by a thread. Any sort of movement, perhaps, would break that steeple right down to the ground.
We also made a point of sticking our heads into a few hotels around here to see how people were reacting. What we found is that many, many people, about four different hotels we went to were sleeping in the lobbies simply because they were afraid of the aftershocks and were afraid to be upstairs in case the aftershocks did get very heavy. In fact, we hear there have been more than 100 aftershocks so far. Many of these hotels were stacked with bodies, people sleeping on the floors and sleeping on couches, standing up sleeping because they didn't want to be upstairs in the hotel rooms high up in case these aftershocks got very strong, Betty.
NGUYEN: Brian, as you make your way to Concepcion, I imagine you'll find a lot of damage in the roadways. How difficult is the travel going to be?
BYRNES: From what we are told, it will be quite difficult, yes. I think there's going to be significant damage on the highway. It is a main highway that leads south from Santiago all the way down to Chile and then over to Concepcion. I understand there's a lot of damage, however some teams and crews have been able to make it there. I do want to point out, I saw images that came over recently in the past few minutes from our partner CNN Chile, they were aerial images from the Constitution area, that area definitely had some effects of tsunami, and there was major flooding. Streets entirely flooded. Debris floating well out into the Pacific, so obviously the tsunami did have an effect here; there is major water damage in the Constitutional area. We're going to make our way south in a few minutes and obviously I expect to encounter some major damage once we make it south from here in Santiago. Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes, not only dealing with the effects of the earthquake, but also as you pointed out the tsunami. So I imagine you'll see quite a bit. Be careful on that trip. Of course, we'll be checking in to see the latest on the ground from Chile. Thank you so much for joining us today.
You know there are some more dramatic pieces of video that we are getting into the CNN Newsroom from Chile. We want to show that to you now.
MARCIANO: Can you imagine how it must have felt like being in that earthquake? Well, we had someone whose camera was rolling. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, more than 300 people are dead, and the casualty count is expected to rise, unfortunately. Here's what we know about Chile's massive earthquake. The president there Michelle Bachelet says more than 2 million people have been impacted.
MARCIANO: According to the U.S. Geological Survey, at least 76 aftershocks of magnitude 4.9 or greater have been recorded. The quake itself spawning tsunami concerns across the Pacific Rim, but about 90 minutes ago all tsunami warnings were canceled in the region.
NGUYEN: We are also getting in more video from the moment the quake struck. And it just really takes you there and just experiencing what people saw and felt.
MARCIANO: I don't care where you are from or what language you speak, you can hear the fear in the people's voices. Watch and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[Speaking foreign language]
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): That was very strong, wasn't it?
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Yes, very strong, very strong.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): The feeling?
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): It is like I can't believe.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Ma'am, how are you?
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Scared, very scared.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Well, you saw it, we all saw it.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): My mom is worried, isn't she?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: I can't imagine what it would be like to be inside or outside with the ground shaking like that.
NGUYEN: You can see the power lines shaking and the power lines snapping in the back. An 8.8 is a very large earthquake, and aftershocks continue. One of the largest ones was 6.9, that alone for many countries is a very large quake.
MARCIANO: Remember in Haiti, we had aftershocks that size for a week or so after the fact, so this thing isn't done by any means as far as the earth moving and the dramatic pictures that we are getting into the CNN Newsroom continue as well. We'll share them with you throughout the morning. Our continuing coverage continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Hello, again. I'm Rob Marciano. Welcome to our U.S. viewers and viewers around the world.
NGUYEN: Yes. Good morning and thank you for being with us today. I'm Betty Nguyen.
Our top story obviously the situation in Chile. We are getting new details on that devastation there, so we'll get right to it. The coverage in Chile, we also want to give you the latest as well on our other top stories.
Let's begin with this for a moment. President Obama signed a one- year extension of several provisions in the Patriot Act. They would have expired today. Now, the Patriot Act is the nation's main counter terrorism law that allows the government to monitor Americans in the interest of national security. MARCIANO: And racking up medals, the Americans dominating at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Right now the medal count for the United States is 37, that is the most ever won by any country in the Winter Olympic Games.
We apologize to our international viewers. They have a chance to push it even further today. The U.S. hockey team takes on Canada in a very anticipated great match.
NGUYEN: Well, freezing and fed up. The northeast digging out of its third heavy winter storm in just one month. And the cold snap, not expected to go anywhere any time soon.
I want you to take a look at what people are dealing with right there. It simply would not stop. New York set records for the most amounts of snow in a single month. Thousands of people across the northeast were also left without electricity.
MARCIANO: Well, as far as the earthquake is concerned, we have crews that are on the ground and headed to the epicenter in Chile.
NGUYEN: Yes, one of our guys is trying to cross into Concepcion from Santiago, but he has to get through a broken bridge first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: The death toll from Saturday's earthquake in Chile is now greater than 300. That number unfortunately expected to continue to grow.
NGUYEN: Yes, the government plans to update the death toll at 10:00 Eastern this morning. Obviously, we'll be following that for you and bring you the latest.
In the meantime, though, all tsunami warnings have been canceled. Yesterday we were telling you that experts feared a tsunami would sweep across the pacific basin as far as Japan, Russia, even Australia. Well, across Chile, many people spent the night outside fearing more aftershocks.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already had planned a trip to Latin America this week. And on Tuesday she is expected in Chile.
Let's turn now to the situation on the ground. And Rafael Romo -- he is CNN's senior Latin American affairs editor.
MARCIANO: He was at the Chile desk here in the NEWSROOM
Rafael, just like Haiti, I imagine a lot of people must have spent the night outside last night.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: That's right, Rob and Betty. The big concern right now -- and you talked about it before -- is aftershocks.
A lot of people just very afraid to go back into their homes, into their and buildings, because there have been just so many aftershocks that they are afraid at any moment the walls may collapse. And we have -- we may have more fatalities again.
The other concern is that there's been incidents of looting in a couple of cities, especially Vina del Mar right on the coast. And also the capital of Santiago. And that's the reason why President Michelle Bachelet has ordered that there will be no public gatherings for the next 72 hours.
Now we have been directly in touch with our partner station in Chile, CNN Chile, and we're getting the latest videos right now. And let me show you a couple of those videos. One video was captured with a cell phone camera right at the moment of the earthquake.
And the video is going to show you exactly what people are seeing at the moment of the earthquake. You can -- you can start seeing it right now.
Also, this aerial footage gives you a better idea of the extent of devastation and destruction in some of the areas that were badly damaged yesterday. Again, these videos are just basically the first look at some of the buildings, the areas, the neighborhoods that were devastated.
Now let's turn into the cell phone video that I was talking about before. This is the moment of the earthquake itself that somebody captured on their cell phone camera. This is how it felt.
Let's listen in for a second.
That's exactly what happened there. That's how it felt. Somebody was just with their cell phone camera right at the moment of the earthquake, 3:34 a.m. when it happened yesterday morning.
Now let's listen from a witness, somebody who lived through the earthquake and survived to tell this story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA RIFFO, SANTIAGO RESIDENT: At first I just opened my eyes and waited because, well, here in Chile we are kind of used to having mild earthquakes, but then it just didn't stop, so we decided to get up with my boyfriend, and just waited by the door waiting for it to stop.
And we heard all around the neighborhood, glasses crashing down, children crying, women getting pretty upset. And people just started pouring out of their apartments and going outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Now the good news is that the government in Chile is functioning. They are organized. There is a working government to speak of. And so the efforts, the rescue efforts, the relief efforts are already underway.
Something that was very different a month ago when an earthquake struck Haiti, Rob and Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, have you been able to determine at this point the areas that were most heavily damaged by this? I know a lot of our crews are having a difficult time trying to get there. What are you hearing from perhaps just some of the locals who live there?
ROMO: The problem is that a lot of the roads and highways were badly damaged. We are talking about, for example, a Route 5, which is the main road that connects Chile from the south into the north.
There's a bridge that connects the two in the area affected by the earthquake. That bridge came down and it's just not going to -- it's going to be a long time before it's repaired. So that really -- it's a big challenge for the government to send relief and search and rescue crews into some of the affected areas.
So also in and around the capital itself, a lot of the roads are covered with debris. That makes the situation very difficult for the government.
NGUYEN: Yes, no doubt. It's going to take some time. OK. Rafael, thank you so much for that update. We appreciate it.
MARCIANO: Up next, we're going to check in with meteorologist Bonnie Schneider, a recap of the tsunami warnings, most of which were canceled by the Japanese meteorological agency. Holding on to some of those. So she'll be up next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Here's a quick look at our major story. The aftermath from that 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile. The death toll right now stands at more than 300 people, but that is expected to rise.
We're also going to get an update on that death toll at 10:00 Eastern this morning. When that happens, we'll bring it to you.
And just about 90 minutes ago, all tsunami warnings for the pacific were canceled. Well, yesterday some experts were saying a tsunami could sweep across the region.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already had planned a Latin American trip before the quake struck. Well, that trip is still on. She is scheduled to be in Chile on Tuesday.
MARCIANO: Earthquakes, tsunamis, not necessarily weather- related, but certainly falling under the umbrella of the meteorological genre here at CNN.
And meteorologist Bonnie Schneider in to talk about the tsunami.
Those cancelled -- those warnings have been cancelled.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. For the --
MARCIANO: Why is Japan still holding on to some at least advisories, not necessarily letting people get back to their homes along the coast?
SCHNEIDER: Well, particularly right along the coastal areas, we are seeing warnings from -- advisories, rather, from the Japanese meteorological agency, Rob. And that is because they know the topography better than anyone else -- the local agency does.
So we can show you that there has been some water level rise. About just 1.2 meters. You can see it caused minor flooding in Hokkaido. And really that's from the first wave or two, but we aren't expecting another huge wave.
The problem is that the warnings are still up because of the topography, because of the history, and really because of as a precaution. You can see here on the map I have taken from the Japanese Meteorological Agency here, the topography here, the curvature of the land, so those warnings are really for the coastal areas more so than areas facing inland.
And these are not expired yet, even though the pacific warnings have been expired or canceled.
Here's a closer look on Google Earth of Japan. And we can show you a little bit more. I kind of zoomed into the Tokyo area which is right here, but notice the bays and inlets, the curvature of the topography, and that's so important when you're talking about a tsunami, because even a slight level in the water rising can pool and funnel in any of these bays and inlets.
And that can cause damage, but right now things are looking so much better than they did just 24 hours ago. We were looking at the threat for a tsunami really across much of the pacific.
And we had those warnings and advisories posted for so many places and Hawaii being one of them that managed to do well.
What I'm showing you now is Google Earth. We've been posting the aftershocks that have occurred since the earthquake in Chile, the 8.8 magnitude. It's not surprising at all to see such a large multitude of aftershocks. Many are of these are strong over 4.0.
At least have occurred and they're still coming in. Some of them are light that you don't even feel them, but we can possibly see some very strong aftershocks really in the next 24 hours and even for the months to come because of the magnitude of this quake. But the good news is, with the tsunami advisories now being lifted across the pacific, at least many places are breathing a sigh of relief.
Because originally, when that quake occurred, we were checking the forecast model, the energy of the wave. And this is -- we are comparing the earthquake and what happens in the earth to what happens in the atmosphere.
We use a lot of forecast models in the atmosphere. But as you can see this kind of shows you the energy of where the wave was headed. All the way here towards areas in the pacific and that even further to the south in New Zealand and Australia. So this is why there were so many warnings posted, but the good news is that a lot of that energy is starting to taper off. We could still see some this, as Rob mentioned, that sloshing effect in Japan where we could still see the water level rise and fall a little bit, especially on the shoreline.
MARCIANO: That's an amazing description and image there, Bonnie. And it really showed you how localized tsunamis are because Japan, much further away, and as far as that map is concerned, less energy getting there, but the wave height, the water rise was higher than in Hawaii.
So it's just a remarkable thing to me how the Pacific Ocean works, a big body of water. And when it rocks like that, everyone is affected.
NGUYEN: Yes, everyone is affected. And to travel so far, too, that's what's so astonishing to me.
All right, Bonnie. Thank you so much for that.
MARCIANO: Thanks, Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
MARCIANO: Well, as she mentioned the tsunami warnings have been lifted, but Japan's government is still urging coastal residents to stay cautious and to stay away.
NGUYEN: That's right. You know tens of thousands of evacuees have been told not to go home just yet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Our top stories at this hour, President Obama is headed to get his physical. He is bound for the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Now the president also plans to meet with wounded U.S. troops while there. It's the first physical for the 48-year-old president since he took office in January of last year.
Well, the big story across the northeast this weekend is the nasty weather. It is the third strong storm this month to hit that area.
Check out the scene in Maine. They got pounded with gusty winds. You can see some of the damage right there and heavy rain. 75,000 were left without power. Now utility crews are working to get the lights back on.
Well, there are more delays ahead for travelers flying into New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. Starting tomorrow, JFK's busiest runway will close for four months of reconstruction.
The $376 million project will widen the bay runway and add taxiways in hopes of easing traffic congestion at one of the world's busiest airports.
MARCIANO: We'll continue with our coverage of the earthquake in Chile, what actually happened with the earth over the last 24 hours.
NGUYEN: And who is being affected across the globe. We'll get a perspective from a seismologist.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: More than 300 people are dead, some 150-plus still missing. Here's what we know in the aftermath of Chile's massive earthquake.
There is serious damage to the nation's infrastructure with the Pan American Highway linking northern and southern Chile literally severed by the quake. The airport in the Chilean capital of Santiago, that is still closed. And that, of course, is hampering relief aid from being distributed.
Now the United Nations says it is on standby willing to provide immediate assistance and the European Union is pledging more than $4 million in aid.
MARCIANO: On the other side of the Pacific, tsunami waves wasted little time rolling into Japan. Network cameras kept track catching them all as you see them here.
The first wave measured only about 4 inches, but a few waves later, 4 feet. The end, though, is near. Most of the tsunami warnings have been canceled, but the Japanese agencies are holding on because of -- still some rough water around there.
All right. Less than an hour ago we got word from -- that all of those tsunami warnings have been canceled. I want to talk to an engineering seismologist. His name is Walter Hays. He's an executive director of Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction.
Good morning, Mr. Hays. Thank you for joining us.
WALTER HAYS, SEISMOLOGIST: Good morning.
MARCIANO: It seemed like part of your job is to advice governments and to manage risk of these things that we know are going to happen. What would you say to the government in Chile this morning?
HAYS: Well, first, they did a good job of preparing, but preparation is very difficult for an earthquake of this size and there's always some problems that occur.
MARCIANO: But, clearly, it seems with an 8.8 magnitude quake, albeit 200 miles from the epicenter, the capital, relatively speaking, did fairly well structurally. Fatalities -- although you don't want to lose even but one life, fatalities relative to Haiti, certainly low.
Are you surprised by this? Or is this just great preparation?
HAYS: Well, it's not all preparation. Mother Nature has a part in this, too. Haiti in the earthquake was very shallow compared to the one in Chile. Five miles versus about 22 miles.
And you are much closer to Port-au-Prince, the capital, than you were to Santiago, so those two combinations make damage worse for Haiti.
MARCIANO: But are you --
HAYS: Worse for Haiti.
MARCIANO: No doubt about that. And certainly, the building codes in Haiti pretty much nonexistent.
HAYS: Exactly.
MARCIANO: But in Chile, a little more strict. That said, are you impressed with how well the structures have held up considering your knowledge of how that city -- at least the modern parts of it -- have been built?
HAYS: Well, you always like it to do better. The building code is designed to prevent loss of life. You can have damage, but not loss of life and be a success. So Chile did well in that sense. Not perfect, of course. But no one is perfect, even California will have some problems.
MARCIANO: You know, the specifics of this quake, I'm reading that the coastline, the fault line, about 450 miles. I also read somewhere that this thing typically moves 3.5 inches per year slowly, and it moved during this quake 25 feet.
Does that sound right to you?
HAYS: Well, that's the fault rupture. Now the plate movement is the thing you refer to. And this has been going on for two earth days, 200 million years. In this case, we have the Nazca plate and the South American plate.
The Nazca plate moving toward the South American plate and going underneath to cause seduction. Now that rate is very slow, but when the rupture breaks, then that's the longer and bigger movement.
MARCIANO: You know, there seems to be -- you look around the world, and you see what has happened here seemingly in the last five or six years, and we are reminded in places like Santiago and certainly places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo -- these are major world class cities built on major fault zones.
As a guy that advises these kind of places, do you ever kind of shake your head and be like, what do wet get ourselves into? I know you can't control where people settle on, and certainly they didn't know then what we know now. How difficult does that make your job? HAYS: Well, it's -- it's a never-ending job in that sense. We talk about the writing on the wall, the handwriting on the wall. We now know enough to know exactly where these kind of seduction zones are and the frequency of earthquakes on them.
Most of these kind of earthquakes generate tsunamis. And so the handwriting is on the wall as being able to read the handwriting and to do something about it in a positive way that makes the difference between success and failure. Between a disaster and just another event that is notable.
MARCIANO: We always hear that the big one is coming in San Francisco and Los Angeles. If a magnitude exact -- quake like this, a center maybe 200 miles from San Francisco, would we have this kind of results? Would we be worse? Would we be better?
HAYS: We'll have surprises. We'll have some good results because San Francisco and indeed all of California have done a lot of good and positive work to prepare. And Mother Nature cooperates by giving you a lot of exercises along the way.
But when the big one comes, and that's about an 8.25 on the Richter Scale, then there will be some surprises. Now when you have budget shortfalls and you don't do certain things for a while, or you cut out certain services, that aggravates the surprises and makes things that shouldn't happen happened. So that's one of our problems.
MARCIANO: And the point that's been made time and time again, both in Haiti and this quake, it's not necessarily the quakes that kill people, it's the buildings that kill people and these surprises that you speak of will happen to matter how much we prepare.
Walter Hays, thank you so much for joining us. Executive director of the Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction. And we'd like to reduce more of these in the future, but Mother National is certainly going to do what she wants to do.
Thank you this morning.
HAYS: That's right.
MARCIANO: Sir, we appreciate your time.
HAYS: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, we have been following your comments on Facebook and Twitter. And I want to show you what some of you are saying. Let's first go to my Facebook site.
And Earnest says, "You know it's really sad about that death toll, but at the same time it's good to hear that tsunami warnings have been canceled."
And Pat says, "Chile is a country that is well prepared for earthquakes, surprised though that the tsunami threat from the massive quake turned out to be small in magnitude." Quickly now let's go to my Twitter page. And akadarylg says, "My heart goes out to the people of Chile." And then Sealighthouse says, "Do earthquakes and global warming have any connection?"
That's a question that I've received a lot, in fact. And maybe Rob can help answer that one for us. A lot of people, especially, you know, when see Haiti and all the devastation that was done there, and now we see is just a massive and powerful earthquake hit Chile.
MARCIANO: Yes.
NGUYEN: Any connection -- any way connected to global warming?
MARCIANO: Yes. No, no. There's absolutely nothing. No, I mean, the earth has been moving. These plates have been moving since the beginning of time, since the earth -- you know even started warming.
NGUYEN: Right.
MARCIANO: So there's no -- absolutely no effect from weather. There are some interesting questions, though, as far as, you know, a full moon. A lot of people have said, you know, full moons, the gravitational pull will trigger these earthquakes.
Now most seismologist, including the folks at the USGS, will say no way, there's no scientific proof of this. But I submit to you that the (INAUDIBLE) quake and this most recent quake were both around a full moon.
NGUYEN: What about the Haiti one?
MARCIANO: It was a new moon which has a nearly the same gravitational pull. And so when you pull on the -- I'm talking on the Pacific Ocean like that.
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: You know, it seems like it will have some sort of effect, but scientifically, that hasn't been proven. It's tough to prove.
NGUYEN: It's all very interesting and kind of frightening in a way, too.
MARCIANO: Yes.
NGUYEN: So it's about that unknown, especially when it hits so devastatingly as it has in Chile. You know, and speaking of that, days after the earthquake, of course, we are going to continue our coverage. We're hearing about the death toll, which is now at 300. And so far, we have learned that at least 100 and people -- 150 people are missing.
Stay with us for more coverage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. And welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It's February 28th.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rob Marciano, in today for T.J. Holmes. Thanks for starting your day with us. We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.
It's 7:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 9:00 a.m. in Concepcion, Chile. A day after a devastating earthquake hit that region, hundreds dead, some 500,000 buildings and structures have been completely flattened or damaged.
NGUYEN: Here's the latest on this deadly quake that struck Chile. More than 300 people are killed, and yesterday's 8.8 magnitude quake is expected to cause that death toll to rise. We'll get an update on that from the government this morning at 10:00 Eastern.
Now, just minutes ago, CNN spoke with an official in one community who told us there are 150 people missing there. Just about two hours ago, all tsunami warnings for the Pacific were canceled. Now, yesterday some experts were saying a tsunami could sweep across the Pacific all the way to Japan, Russia, and Australia. Well, across the impacted region, people did spend the night outside fearing those aftershocks.
And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already had planned a Latin American trip before the quake struck. That's still on. She is scheduled to be in the country on Tuesday.
Well, we do have our correspondents up early today. Rafael Romo is in the Chile desk right here in the CNN newsroom. Brian Byrnes is in Santiago, Chile's capital. And Kyung Lah is in Tokyo, as well as Dan Simon who is in Hawaii.
MARCIANO: Let's start with Kyung Lah. She is in Tokyo, as Betty said, where the tsunami warnings have been canceled, but officials are still monitoring those waves and water.
Kyung, is the worst over? I know there are still some advisories that are up.
KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are still some advisories coming from this country, even though the U.S. side has recommended that all these tsunami advisories be canceled. The concern is: maybe there are some residual waves that are coming on, but it does appear that the worst is over.
It was, though, quite an alarming day for hundreds of thousands of people here in Japan. The warning affected many of them -- hundreds of thousands evacuated out of the low-lying areas and told to go to higher ground. This was the highest alarm -- the highest level of tsunami alert that we've seen in this country for some 15 years. So, everyone braced for the worst.
But when the tsunami arrived at first, it was quite small. The second wave of tsunami came in at about 4 1/2 feet. We saw some flooding in the northern half of the country, but as far as any widespread damage, we have not seen that. There were not any injuries reported as well according to the National Police Authority.
Some of the reason for the alarm and the heightened state of alarm is that the government was worried that there might be a repeat of history. In 1960, there was an earthquake. It was in Chile, and then it came over as a tsunami -- the effect here, that is. And those waves ended up killing 140 people.
The government is trying to avoid that. They did, Rob, sound the alarm early, but it appears we have dodged the bullet here-- Rob.
MARCIANO: All right. We'll check back with you. I know they are still worried about the water there and those advisories still up. Kyung Lah live for us in Tokyo -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, Chile's president is urging everyone to be calm. She is telling her people to have trust and to follow the instructions from authorities. And perhaps, most of all, be strong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. MICHELLE BACHELET, CHILE (through translator): It is not possible yet to know the full magnitude of this disaster. The final result we'll not be able to get before the next 48 or 72 hours. The information gathered up to this point indicate that we have 214 victims, 15 persons missing, about 2 million victims of the hurricane and about 1.5 million inhabitants with problems aside from hospitals, ground transportation, airports and port that are seriously affected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Well, not only does he speak Spanish, but he's dialed into Chile, no doubt. Let's go to Rafael Romo, CNN senior Latin American affairs editor.
NGUYEN: Yes, Rafael is on the Chile desk right here in the newsroom.
And, have you heard more about the searches? We understand in one particular area, as many as 150 people are missing.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Rob and Betty, let me first go to the most recent information we have here at the Chile desk. There was a significant -- another significant aftershock in the last 20 minutes.
Let's look at the information right now. It was a magnitude 6.2. As we can see right here, it happened in the community of Libertador O'Higgins, Chile. Just to give you an idea, Rob and Betty, this is located right between the capital of Santiago and the town of Concepcion, which was the original site of the earthquake -- the epicenter of the earthquake that we saw yesterday.
Also, I wanted to show you some of the images that we received from the town of Talcahuano, located right along the coast. That's after the earthquake. And it shows you what happened to the boats, many boats were overturned.
The port there is destroyed. A very difficult situation since this is one of the most important ports for Chile. And so, you can see the damage there.
Also, we have received a video that was shot just after the earthquake, but this new video was shot in the town of Vina del Mar. You are going to see in a moment there a lot of people just running, just trying to get away from buildings, just trying to get away from anything that might collapse. And also, you see the sparks from power lines.
This, again, just after the moment -- moments after the earthquake in Vina del Mar, Chile. People are running, people screaming, people yelling and trying to help each other. But, again, a moment of a lot of panic is a lot of concern for many people.
And we also got some interviews right at the scene location just a few -- just a few minutes after this happened. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER (through translator): That was very strong, wasn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes, very strong. Very strong.
REPORTER: The feeling?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like I can't believe.
REPORTER: Ma'am, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Scared. Very scared.
REPORTER: Well, you, you saw it. We all saw it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My mom is worried, isn't she?
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: So, that happened just a few minutes after the earthquake, the first -- the original earthquake yesterday morning. Now, Rob and Betty, you were asking me about search and rescue efforts. The main problems right now have to do with the fact that the roads are in really bad shape. Chile has had a long history of earthquakes, and they have specialized personnel. They actually send brigades to Haiti to help in the search and rescue effort there, but the problem right now: the roads are in really bad shape.
Betty and Rob, back to you.
NGUYEN: Yes, we understand a major bridge that connects northern and southern Chile has just been wiped out. So, that's going to cause a big problem in getting not only the aid, but the emergency crews and all that's needed to help those affected.
Rafael, thanks so much for that. We appreciate it.
All right. So, a lot of people want to know what is it like when an earthquake hits. Well, watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Frightening, no doubt about it. We've got more dramatic pictures we want to show you.
Plus, tens of thousands who evacuated their homes along coastal areas in Asia still haven't gone home. People are still nervous.
Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is going to touch on that and we'll get her thoughts on this winter weather across the northeast. There's more to come. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: At least 300 people are reported dead and more still missing, were being told that at least 150 in one particular area. Here's what we know right now a day after a massive earthquake struck Chile: There is serious damage to the country's infrastructure. The Pan-American Highway linking northern and southern Chile was literally severed by this quake. The airport in the capital of Santiago -- that is still closed, which is making it harder for people to get relief aid.
The United Nations says it is on standby, willing to provide immediate assistance. And the European Union is pledging more than $4 million in aid.
MARCIANO: Tsunami is the other issue with this earthquake. And in Hawaii, an island paradise, put on hold. They were in the direct path of the tsunami.
(VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Yes, imagine waking up to that. Most people were still asleep early Saturday when those warning sirens suddenly went off. After that, it was a scramble to get to high ground. The tsunami hit Hawaii a little after 11:00 a.m. island time, but it wasn't the monster wave many thought it would be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GERARD FRYER, PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER: Yes, I think we've dodged a bullet. Yes, I think so. In fact, it's almost -- it's almost the best sort of tsunami you could possibly have. One that's big enough that everyone sees that something happened, but not big enough to cause any damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: How about that? Good news there, but the wave actually got to Japan and it looked like in Japan, they've actually got more water than they did in Hawaii surprisingly.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's true.
MARCIANO: Just recently, they canceled the tsunami warnings across the Pacific Basin, but the Japanese agency is still holding on. They're a little nervous still on that.
SCHNEIDER: That's true. Really just on coastal areas, Rob, because you could see some sea level variants as we watch just the water kind of settle back down from the activity across the Pacific. In fact, we did get some flooding in and around Japan. Not that much, most of it was pretty minor -- as you can see. We only had a little bit of water sloshing around, but it definitely caused concern for people in this region.
All right. I want to show you what's happening in Japan right now. Rob and I were just talking about the advisories that persist in the coastal areas. That is going to be a concern, as you can see, across a good portion of coastal Japan.
The advisories have been downgraded, even by the Japanese Meteorological Agency, while the Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center said no more advisories. Locally, we're just still watching just in case, although I think the major threat has been lifted, which is such good news. It could have been so much worse.
Now, you just heard from one of our reporters that there has been a recent aftershock. Let's zoom in right here please and you can take a look into this area here. We are watching for one aftershock. I'm going to walk over to Google Earth just to show you the magnitude of it, as I set the cursor on.
There it is -- 6.1. That is the most recent aftershock in Chile right now. And this is a large aftershock. If this was just an earthquake on its own, it would be very intense. But because we started off yesterday with 8.8, it's not surprising that we are seeing more aftershocks occur. In fact, all these orange and yellow dots you see here are aftershocks that have occurred just into the past 24 hours since the quake, the major quake occurred.
And you can see another strong one that occurred. That was one offshore. And remember, the original epicenter was about three miles offshore as well, but we're getting quake activity with aftershocks now further inland, even one near Santiago.
Some of these you won't feel, Betty and Rob, but other things will shake things up, as you just saw from a reporter on the scene. And it just put you on edge. You know, a lot of these buildings that weren't completely destroyed, maybe hanging by a thread, and then the strong aftershock comes in, and that could cause a lot more problems.
MARCIANO: And they don't seem to be getting any weaker, 6.1 --
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
MARCIANO: -- or 6.2 just recently as you mentioned.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
MARCIANO: Scary times down there for sure and it will be for the coming days.
All right. And real quick, as far as we've got another little quick snowstorm that may be coming through the south people need to be aware of?
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Yes, absolutely. We're definitely looking at that. What we're expecting is, you can see the temperatures are definitely showing that we have cold air well in place. So, the next storm has the energy along with it.
Even though we're getting some snow across parts of New England, draw your attention to Arizona. Notice this low getting started here. This will work its way across Texas, and as it does, it is going to follow the typical El Nino track that we've seen. You can see on the wider scale now that the storms work their way up the coastline. We are possibly looking at -- yes, another threat for snow in the south -- a 60 percent mix in the forecast.
OK. Just for the record, this is March 2nd we're talking about, the possibility of some winter weather in Atlanta. So, a winter to remember, no doubt about it.
MARCIANO: Absolutely. All right. We'll get updates on that throughout the day as well. Thank you, Bonnie Schneider.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
NGUYEN: You know, a lot of us know that many of you at home want to help or you're also looking for your loved ones. There's a lot of information that is out there. But people don't know exactly how to get it.
MARCIANO: Yes.
NGUYEN: Well, some of the social networks are helping with that and Josh Levs has been monitoring it for us.
Hey, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, guys.
Yes, we got a new web tool this morning that's there to help people find missing loved ones in Chile. Also, the best and safest way to contribute to charities helping in the wake of this disaster -- I have all that for you right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: We'll get back to our coverage of Chile in just a second. But first, a look at some of our top stories this morning.
President Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the Patriot Act. They would have expired today. The Patriot Act is the nation's main counterterrorism law. It allows the government to monitor Americans in the interest of national security.
NGUYEN: Well, racking up the medals. The Americans are dominating at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Right now, the medal count for the United States is 37. That is the most ever won by any country in the Winter Games. They have a chance to push it even further today. The U.S. hockey team takes on Canada in a very anticipated grudge-match.
MARCIANO: Absolutely, an epic battle on the ice.
Speaking of ice, they are freezing and fed up in the northeast, digging out of their third heavy winter snow storm in a month, and the cold snap is not expected to go away any time soon. Take a look at that. It simply won't stop coming down.
New York sent records for the most amount of snow in a single month. Thousands of people across the northeast were still without electricity, and Bonnie says there's another storm is coming -- at least for the Mid-Atlantic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. Let's get you the latest on the deadly quake that struck Chile. More than 300 people are dead. The government will update us on the death toll in just a couple hour -- hours, I should say -- at 10:00 Eastern.
Now, minutes ago, CNN spoke with an official in one community who told us that there are 150 people missing there.
MARCIANO: Earlier this morning, all tsunami warnings for the Pacific were canceled. Yesterday, some experts were saying a tsunami could hit as far west as Japan and Russia. Across the impacted region, people spent the night outside fearing aftershocks.
And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already planned a Latin American trip before the quake struck and that is still on. She's scheduled to be in the country on Tuesday.
NGUYEN: Well, we are getting more video of the actual moment when the quake struck. MARCIANO: Watch and listen to this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Terrifying stuff. Imagine being in there when that quake struck. And this stuff is still going on. I mean, just minutes ago, our senior Latin American affairs editor told us there's been another aftershock over 6.0 in magnitude. And it hit within the last 30 minutes. So, this will continue the next few days for sure.
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: It was far more powerful than Haiti's earthquake, that's for sure, from last month. But what is it -- what they have in common around the world, that's -- that's the big question.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, a lot of people just want to help. That's one of the things they do have in common.
And Josh Levs joins us now on more -- with more on how people can do just that.
LEVS: Yes, exactly, guys. You know, these web tools are very important.
I'm going to talk you, guys, through two things. One, how to help people all over the world find your loved ones with whom you've been trying to make contact there in Chile and then how to help people who are stuck in the wake of this disaster.
Let's start off with that first part there. I'm going to talk you through it. We're hearing from people all over the world and right here in the United States worried about their relatives. And there's a woman that we spoke to yesterday on this program -- let's listen to what she told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINA ORTIZ, SEARCHING FOR LOVED ONES (via telephone): All the lights are down. In fact, we have family in San Pedro de la Paz, which is connected through Concepcion on a bridge. And right now, (INAUDIBLE) they showed the bridge and it's completely collapsed. There's no way they can get through to San Pedro de la Paz. There's just actually no way.
On Twitter, I put all of my family's names up. On Facebook, I have all their pictures up. Everyone is doing the same. We are all re-twittering the same exact thing, trying to get as much information out there as possible, hoping that if there is one contact in San Pedro de la Paz, we could find the rest for us.
LEVS: Wow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Well, her efforts paid off. And we have good news for her and for some others that we've been hearing from. She found her relatives. They made contact. And as you heard, she used all sorts of online tools.
There is a new one I want you to see this morning. Let's zoom in to the screen right here, I want you to show you something. First of all, this is from CNN.com, some of the strongest pictures that we've been getting from the quake.
But I opened up over here, the Google Person Finder, which is designed to do just what it says. For the Chile earthquake, all you need to do here, if you're looking for someone, you click there, you type in the person's name, or if you have information about someone, you click there and type it in. It's a very simple concept.
And the reason it works is that a lot of people's phones aren't working, their cell phones aren't working, but in some cases, they find a way to get online, or they tell someone, whenever you get to a computer, just post that I'm OK and I'm alive. That's where this whole idea comes from. So, this is the Google Person Finder for you to find online. And I'll show you another place where you can find it.
Now, let's talk about how you can help. I want to get that quickly because -- oh, actually no, one more thing. The State Department, let's show the phone number right there. If you're an American and you're concerned about relatives, 1-888-407-4747 -- 1- 800-407-4747. That's for American citizens looking for anyone who might be missing in Chile or who they have not made contact with. You can use that phone number.
Now, if you want to help, easy address for you right here, CNN.com/Impact. This is our "Impact Your World" site that's safe. I'm going to be talking to you, guys, next hour about this disgusting scam out there that tries to take advantage of people wanting to give to charity -- this is a way to avoid it, "Impact Your World," CNN.com/Impact.
And I posted links to all these stuff for you right here on my Twitter page. Well, JoshLevsCNN. So, if you're on Twitter, just go and grab the links right there. And you can give and help people in the wake of this and be safe about it.
Guys, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. That is some really good information. Josh, thank you.
And we will continue our coverage of the earthquake in Chile in the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
MARCIANO: Also, at 8:00, fewer coffee customers? Well, how a small business is feeling the economic pinch even when it comes to coffee. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, as we continue to cover the earthquake in Chile, we've been following your comments on Facebook and Twitter.
And first of all, I want to take you to my Twitter page. And let's see what you are saying.
Ak_darylg says: "My heart goes out to the people of Chile." And then over on my Facebook site, if I can bring that up. Daniel says: "Feeling ill over the loss of life, as is the rest of my family. Hoping the death toll so far will flat-line out and the good people of Chile can start with the rebuilding of their lives and homes. Get well soon, Chile."
And we invite you to send your comments in. We'll be reading them on the air this morning. Go to our Facebook and Twitter pages. You can also reach us on the blog.
MARCIANO: I was a bad boy. I didn't solicit a comment on my Twitter page. But you can go --
NGUYEN: That's all right.
MARCIANO: -- find me at RobMarcianoCNN, and I'll read your comments in the coming hour.
Right now, we've got some various comments that some aren't reading.
NGUYEN: OK.
MARCIANO: Anyway, more coverage on the earthquake in Chile at the top of the hour when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
NGUYEN: But first, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins right now.
(MUSIC)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." HOST: Good morning. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Welcome to a special place, a place where we learn how to live stronger and longer. I'm your doctor. I'm also your coach.
One thing that comes over and over again when talking about health care is the cost. Why it's so expensive. We're going to do straight to the hospital to try and answer that question.
Also, have you ever thought about this -- possibly picking your insurance and not relying on your employer or your company? I got a really fascinating conversation with someone about why that might be the answer to fixing some of our health care woes.
And someone is having chest pain. That pain is writhing up and down their chest, sometimes you see them clutching their chest, but it's not a heart attack. What is it? It's a medical mystery.
Let's get started.
(MUSIC)
