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CNN Saturday Morning News

Nuclear Contamination Fears Grow; Cease-Fire Being Ignored in Libya; The Risks of Radiation; Family Members Continue Search For Loved Ones in Twin-Disaster Aftermath

Aired March 19, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning on this Saturday morning where we are tracking two breaking news stories right now in Libya.

A fighter jet, as you can see from these images, has gone down in flames as tanks are lining up around the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

All this despite a defiant Moammar Gadhafi's claims that a cease- fire -- yes a cease-fire is in place. It's the latest sign of the deteriorating situation in Libya and that military intervention from the U.S. and other countries could be triggered soon.

Also, we're watching Japan where crews there are battling a potential nuclear crisis. And they have now resorted to drilling holes in several of the reactors to relieve pressure. Also putting water on it as you see there. Also, abnormally high radiation levels have been detected in food near the plant.

Hello to you all from the CNN Center. This is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for March 19th. I'm T.J. Holmes, good to be back with you.

We are going to start in Libya where heavy fighting has broken out again between opposition forces and those forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. This is the image we have been seeing this morning. We got this just a little bit ago from Benghazi. This is in Eastern Libya, a rebel stronghold, and that is an opposition fighter jet going down in flames. More on that in just a moment.

Also, we are seeing and hearing explosions in the city. Government and opposition tanks are squaring off against each other. There's also a defiant tone coming out of the capital of Tripoli. A government spokesman read a letter from Gadhafi to President Obama a short time ago. In it he said he and his people are ready to die for their country.

CNN's Arwa Damon is in Benghazi for us. She joins us now on the phone. Arwa, hello to you once again. Does this appear to be an all- out assault and attempt to take back the city of Benghazi from the opposition forces?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, T.J., it would be difficult to categorize it as an all-out assault at this point. But this is most definitely is the beginning of the battle for Benghazi, the heart of the opposition here that has fought for so long they say for freedom and democracy. We have seen Colonel Gadhafi forces slowly pushing back the opposition.

Now they have arrived to Benghazi, a very, very dramatic morning. Loud explosions, we saw that fighter jet that you've been speaking about, showing that video. We saw a number of artillery rounds impacting inside the city. We saw (INAUDIBLE) gunships, we believe also belonging to the opposition and a vessel a few miles off the shore. Not entirely sure whose side that vessel is on.

We heard from eyewitness, civilians, residents of Benghazi who said that they were woken up in the middle of the night by small armed fire, pro-Gadhafi elements, members of his military, they say, firing on their apartment buildings indiscriminately. We are also hearing ongoing reports of an artillery barrage falling hitting in the southern and south central parts of that city. This is exactly what the opposition had been warning the international community about.

This is exactly why they were pushing for that U.N. resolution to be passed and why they so desperately need it implemented right now. We've been speaking with a number of residents of Benghazi fleeing the capital, talking about the sheer terror that they felt, not knowing where they're going to go, T.J., not knowing what they're going to do, not knowing what is going to happen to their own country. They are desperately pleading with the international world to implement this resolution right now.

Otherwise they say Colonel Gadhafi is eventually going to massacre all of them.

HOLMES: Arwa, can you give us a little perspective, as well, on this plane that we saw go down? And perspective, what I mean is we know that a lot of the cases the opposition forces don't have the type of weaponry the heavy artillery that some of the government forces have, the Gadhafi forces. But this is an opposition plane.

Can you help us with some perspective for people hearing this and maybe surprised to hear that the opposition has access to things like ships and, yes, fighter jets?

DAMON: Yes, T.J., basically we saw that fighter jet go down in that dramatic plume of smoke. And later on, we were speaking with an opposition fighter who did say that it was one of their planes that they were trying to dispatch to try to push back Colonel Gadhafi's military machine.

The opposition has a handful, less than half a dozen aircraft that were basically grounded at a number of air bases that they managed to take over when they took over Eastern Libya. They were telling us before they managed to get them off the ground, they don't work very well.

This would not be the first time they had an aircraft go down. They had one malfunction while it was in the air and crashed just a few days ago.

But this is all that they have to try to push back against what Colonel Gadhafi can put up in the skies. These are old, decrepit planes.

But again, this is the opposition that is using everything at its disposal. This is not a hardened military against hardened military kind of battle. The opposition is largely made up of men, young men, teenagers who only learned how to fire their weapons a few weeks ago. And they've thrown themselves as they keep saying with all of their heart and their will power into this battle, but they're heavily outgunned.

But again, they are doing everything that they can. And they say they've taken this as far as they can. And now it is on the international community to take action. People here, T.J., are really struggling to understand why it is that this resolution was not implemented immediately. Many people heard President Obama's speech yesterday where he was saying that today's meeting would be taking place to discuss the mechanics of implementing the resolution. And people were stunned by that. Because they told us that that was basically giving Gadhafi carte blanch to do as he please for at least 48 hours and now we are seeing that materialized with the battle for Benghazi well under way at this stage. T.J..

HOLMES: Arwa Damon, thank you so much for reporting for us from Benghazi this morning.

We do want to turn now to Japan where just two hours ago, another earthquake felt in Tokyo. This one was a magnitude 5.9. The epicenter was about 88 miles from Tokyo. No significant damage being reported just yet.

Also, the Japanese government released a new death toll this morning saying that more than 7,300 people now dead, more than 11,300 missing from that March 11th quake and tsunami.

Today also could be critical in preventing a full nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Workers hope to start powering the cooling systems for four reactors today.

But government officials says water levels in three of those reactors have stabilized, but the situation still unpredictable. This comes as abnormally high levels of radiation have been found in spinach and milk from the region closest to the quake's epicenter.

Now, radiation in the food supply. That certainly has sparked more fears of people there in Japan. Let's turn to our Brian Todd who is there.

Brian, I know officials there are telling people that the radiation levels are not enough to really have an impact, but is the public buying it?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, you don't get the impression that many people are buying it, T.J., simply because, you know, when we've heard from Japanese government officials throughout this crisis at the nuclear reactor.

They would say one thing, they would kind of speak out of both sides of their mouths then, you know, you'd find out later that what they said previously may not have been quite the truth, or not that they were covering anything up, but just that they were maybe a little bit evasive. So, no, I don't think anybody's really buying what the Japanese government is saying.

They're, of course, down playing this new trace of radiation in the food supply. They're saying that it is higher than normal, but not extremely high. And one official said regarding the milk especially. If you drank the affected milk consistently for one year, this official said, it would be about as much radiation as you would get in one CAT scan. So they are down playing this.

They're also saying they're investigating this to see how widespread it is. They're testing new samples of milk, spinach, and other foods. And they're mulling over, not allowing those particular products to be transported out of that area for, you know, distribution elsewhere.

But, you know, again, they seem to be not nonchalant, but certainly downplaying the situation. I guess, you know, in their minds, they don't want to cause any widespread fear or panic, that's a good thing.

But again, how much they're really on top of it and how much they are actually telling the public that's certainly up for debate at this point. T.J..

HOLMES: All right. Brian Todd, we appreciate you this morning from Tokyo.

And to our viewers, I know a lot of you would like to help the victims there in Japan, you can log on to our web site CNN.com/impact for information on how you can make a difference.

Also, can you imagine driving your car along the coast the second that tsunami hits? We're going to show you the incredible video that one man recorded from the driver's seat.

Also, low levels of radiation from Japan's crippled nuclear power plant were detected in California. Where will the radiation go next? Who's at risk? Answers coming up on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twelve minutes past the hour now.

We have seen so many incredible stories and images out of Japan over the past week. Take a look at this picture now. A man driving along the coast when the tsunami hits. You'll see it come up on the right side of your screen here in just a moment. Here comes the water.

The man says all he could do was try to keep driving. It didn't work so well. At one point in the video, you can actually see his car floating in that water. The man said when his car was picked up, that was the time to start panicking and panic he did. He was able to survive this. All he could do was wait until that water went down a bit before he could be on his way.

Family members far and wide have to wonder, were their relatives lucky enough to evacuate? It's hard to get word right now. People wondering all over the world right now about the relatives back there. Were they able to escape that tsunami? Well, our Sandra Endo is one of those many who has family in that disaster zone. She's here with us from Washington.

Sandra, good morning to you. And have you been able to get in touch with your family members?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, T.J.. Yes, my family has. We are one of the lucky ones. And I want to say that our hearts really go out to all those victims, the thousands who have suffered, who lost lives, and who are still waiting to hear from their own family members. And you never expect to talk about your own family when covering a major disaster like this.

But in fact, Fukushima, T.J., is my father's hometown. And he right now lives in Los Angeles. But I have my 90-year-old grandmother in Fukushima City as well as many cousins and aunties and four little toddlers among them all, all under the age of five. So as you can imagine, there are a lot of tense moments as we try to get connected to them.

And there you see me talking to my father over Skype and we were able to finally get communication with our family members in Fukushima on Tuesday. We did cling on to one little text message we got on Friday from a cousin in Hiroshima, which is further down south of Tokyo who said that everyone was accounted for. But T.J., we didn't know what that meant. We didn't know if they were homeless. We didn't know if they were in a shelter. We didn't know if they were injured, or what.

So finally being able to hear their voices on Tuesday really put everything into perspective. Obviously the conditions are very, very drastic and dire for them. We're talking about a food shortage, gas shortage. The water just turned back on, the electricity just turned back on. But they were suffering for days without that as well as thousands of other families in their position.

HOLMES: Sandra, you said they were in Fukushima. Everybody knows that right now because that's where this nuclear disaster is kind of taking place.

How close are they? How are they dealing now with the possibility of that fallout?

I mean, there was a radius put around, at least that plant, where governments are telling people to stay away. How are they, I guess, dealing or coping with living right where this other crisis is taking place?

ENDO: Yes, T.J., you could imagine the joy we felt when we first heard from our family saying that they were OK. But then all the news about the radiation and the nuclear power plant. This is the disconcerting thing. The Japanese government put a 12-mile radius as the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Well, America and other foreign countries put the evacuation zone at 50 miles around there, saying their citizens should get out of that zone. Well, my family lives within that zone, that 50-mile radius. So it's disconcerting to hear the news that Americans and other foreign nationals should leave.

However, Japanese officials are saying that my family as well as thousands of others in that city are OK to stay. So which one should we be listening to here? Who is really in danger? They are really living on the cusp. And kind of in limbo.

The one really unnerving fact that they told me just recently when I spoke to them is that they are really not getting information, T.J., about what to do with this radiation. They say there's one little young man who set up a radiation detection machine at a local high school and his job is to test radiation.

But he doesn't really know what to do and what to do with those numbers when they do show up on this device, really. So he just says to them, oh, just wash it off, you'll be OK. So it's really unnerving.

HOLMES: Well, disaster on top of disaster. And I know, Sandra, that none of us expect to be talking about our families during this disaster. You know, and we don't want to. But your story is one that a lot of people here in this country and around the world are going to , trying to get a hold of their family members there.

So we appreciate you, Sandra. Good to see you this morning.

ENDO: Thanks, T.J..

HOLMES: All right. Let me bring in Reynolds Wolf, now still keeping an eye on Japan. There were some very small minuscule amounts of radiation that showed up in California.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.

HOLMES: You know what? What's going on? I guess those people have predicted it so many days before it got here. I guess how does it kind of travel? It's supposed to disperse and dissipate before it gets here.

WOLF: Absolutely. When you think about the wind sweeping across the single largest geographical feature on the planet being the Pacific Ocean, you think of, "my gosh, if this radioactive matter is contained and goes as one giant parcel all the way across, that could be dangerous." The thing is, think about it as a smokestack. Think of it as a smokestack (INAUDIBLE) and you see the smoke go up and then just kind of (INAUDIBLE) - same rule applies with this.

We've got thousands of miles for this stuff to cross. And the winds are certainly going to batter it apart. By time there are any particulates, again in the central Pacific (INAUDIBLE) west coast, it should not be harmful at all - that's the good news. Bad news, we still have it right at Japan. We certainly have some of that radioactive matter. And one of the concerns that we have is we're hoping it stays away from the populous.

Right now though, thankfully, still relatively low. That would be great if it stays that way. The winds pattern in Japan very complicated. The surface they tend to vary quite a bit. The forecast all the way through Tuesday shows a little bit of variance there. But still, the overwhelming flow is going to be from west to east. That pattern should remain basically the same.

Now, in terms of other issues with the weather, the temperatures, the chance of rain, well, the temperatures are going to be low, the chances of rain are going to increase. That's very rough for people who happen to be seeking shelter outside.

Because we can see the buildings that happen to be in Japan. If a lot of people that are camping out, here's what they're dealing with. Temperatures, check out the Fahrenheit, going all the way to the mid to upper 40s all the way through in Sendai, Japan. Rain possible for Sunday and Monday. Overnight lows right into the freezing point.

Now farther to the south and Tokyo, it will be a bit warmer in the city, a little bit of that heat island effect, if you will. Highs mainly into the 50s, low temperatures into the 40s above the freezing point. But still, if you happen to be outside, 38 degrees, awfully chilly.

That is the latest in your forecast. We have a whole lot more coming up. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. 23 minutes past the hour. A minuscule amount of radioactive material from the nuclear plant in Japan has been detected by monitors in Sacramento, California. Experts say don't panic, folks. It is not considered dangerous. But are people buying that? It's hard not to worry.

There are more than 100 nuclear reactors at 65 power plants here in the U.S. and that raises an important question for a lot of people. What's the real risk if you are exposed to nuclear radiation? We need some answers here.

Let's turn to the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Otis Brawley. Sir, good to have you here with us.

DR. OTIS BRAWLEY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: Thank you.

HOLMES: Please help us out here. Do we have anything, in your opinion, to fear of what's floating across the Pacific and starting to show up in small amounts in California?

BRAWLEY: We have reason for concern, not reason for fear.

HOLMES: OK.

BRAWLEY: The truth is, there have been numerous atomic bombs and nuclear bomb tests in the United States. People have been exposed to this before. There has not been a significant increase in the number of cancers and other things from small amounts of nuclear radiation.

HOLMES: OK. You say we have reason to maybe concerned, but not panic. What should we be concerned about?

BRAWLEY: Well, the government needs to look out for the milk supply. There can be iodine that's in the clouds that ends up in our rain, radioactive iodine can get into grass, get into feed, and end up in cow's milk. We need to be careful, and we need to look out for these sorts of things. And if they do occur, we need to actually not drink that milk. But the likelihood of these things happening is really pretty small.

HOLMES: OK. Really small. And something fascinating you said to me before we got on the air here. There's a run on these potassium iodide pills now.

BRAWLEY: That's right.

HOLMES: You said more harm can possibly be done by the actual pills than from actual radiation.

BRAWLEY: That's right. Potassium iodide, people have allergic reactions to them, they end up getting cramping. They can end up with cardiac arrhythmias, I could easily foresee that in the United States more people are harmed by taking these potassium iodide pills than by the radiation that's released from this reactor.

HOLMES: OK. What about any other concern from these particles getting into possibly the ocean and having an effect on the sea life out there?

BRAWLEY: This is something we need to look out for. Something that the government really does need to monitor. But the likelihood again is that this is not going to happen.

HOLMES: What do you make of what we're seeing, as well, with spinach and milk over in Japan? Some levels detected. Will there be levels high enough, will you be able to eat enough spinach or drink enough milk to actually have an impact on you?

BRAWLEY: In the United States, my suspicion is that the answer is no. I do worry about people who live in Japan, especially people who would be consuming things that are made within 50 miles or so of that reactor. Chernobyl, we've actually had a long-term study of people exposed to Chernobyl. People a far distance away in Turkey, Sweden, and Europe did not have higher risks. This is 25 years of data now. People who were very close to the reactor within 50 or 100 miles did have higher risk of cancer.

HOLMES: OK. Last thing here. People will hear this and you're telling everybody to calm down, no reason to panic, and they're still not going to believe what you're saying. There's just something about radiation that just doesn't sit well with people and rightly so. But people just - what is it about radiation? People just -

BRAWLEY: You can't see it, you can't feel it, can't taste it. The thing to realize is we're exposed to ionizing radiation when you go out into the sun. People who go and sunbathe on the beach for four hours actually get quite a bit of radiation. OK. We've got to be careful. But we also need to not panic.

HOLMES: We appreciate some perspective this morning. Dr. Brawley, we appreciate you coming in. A lot of folks out there, you want to be able to help the people of Japan. Well, $5 can actually do it. $5 here, $20 there, it all helps out. How can you be sure your donation is going to where it's supposed to be? We've got tips, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, with the disaster in Japan, how can you help? We'll show you how to make donations and how to make them go the distance. A special edition of YOUR BOTTOM LINE starts right now.