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Earthquake Bad Timing for Japan's Weak Economy; Victims of Ecuaor's
Earthquake Still Waiting For Aid; Pyongyang Says Sanctions Make Them Try
Harder. Aired 8-9a ET - Part 1>
Darlington, Alexandra Field, Will Ripley, Matt Rivers, Boris Sanchez, Chad
Myers>
Earthquake Bad Timing for Japan's Weak Economy; Victims of Ecuaor's
Earthquake Still Waiting For Aid; Pyongyang Says Sanctions Make Them Try
Harder.>
[08:00:16] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.
Now, Japan digs through the rubble and devastation after a pair of powerful earthquakes strike the southern island of Kyushu.
While rescue efforts continue in Ecuador after an even more powerful quake hit shook the South American country.
And the CNN Freedom Project takes a special look at how girls in Vietnam are forced to become child brides in China.
And we begin with two countries that are an ocean apart but struck by the same kind of devastation. Rescuers in Ecuador are clawing through rubble for survivors from Saturday's catastrophic earthquake. That followed two deadly tremors that shook the other side of the world in Japan.
Now, there at least 42 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured. And the search for those trapped under debris is a race against the clock. It has been two days since the second and stronger earthquake hit and four days since the first. And officials are warning of more aftershocks.
Let's take you now to one of the hardest hit areas. Our Matt Rivers is there. He joins us now live.
And Matt, the latest on the aftermath of all these quakes, just describe the scene behind you.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, you just brought up the threat of more aftershocks. And it was not 10 minutes ago, as a matter of fact, that we felt quite a very strong aftershock. According to Japanese authorities, it registered as a 5.8 magnitude aftershock, it certainly the strongest that we have felt since we arrived here. We were sitting in our van here waiting to speak with you, and it started rocking back and forth quite strongly actually, so we had to jump out.
And that is the kind of thing that we have been dealing with and frankly, the people who live here have been dealing with since that earthquake hit on Thursday, and then again on Saturday. And that is in addition to all of the work that people now have to do.
You see this house behind me. The foundation, this is a concrete foundation with this house that during Saturday's earthquake actually started sliding down the slope that's just behind me. We're on the side of a mountain here, a very steep hillside. And that house collapsed. The first floor collapsed. The second floor came down on top of it and there's actually a trench that split open in this parking lot just behind me. So, between the aftershocks, the cleanup and the rescue efforts, just still a very tense situation here in southwest Japan.
LU STOUT: Yeah, tell us more about the hunt for survivors, because time is of the essence here. Is rescue work still underway in the community, the village where you're reporting at, rescue work to reach people who may be trapped in the rubble?
RIVERS: It is still under way in certain parts, with the teams that have the equipment and the resources in place to light up those areas.
We spent most of our day watching rescue workers go through the remnants of a landslide that actually occurred because of Saturday's earthquake. The hillside broke apart, came rushing down and trapped two people. But those crews actuallyhad to leave the area around sunset here, which is around 7:00 local time, because they didn't have the lighting equipment to stay there and work through the night.
We do know that's not the case with every team, perhaps they're prioritizing the lighting that they have available. They're doing what they can. The Japanese self-defense forces have been here for days now working around the clock, but they are limited with what resources they do have, Kristie.
LU STOUT: And Matt, the psychological impact of all of the quakes, and the aftershocks, including the one you felt just over ten minutes ago, how are people there coping with the loss and the uncertainty about what could happen next?
RIVERS: On our first night here we spent the night in an evacuation shelter with people who were forced to go there. And the interesting thing there was most -- the large majority of people who will there did not have their homes totally destroyed. That's not to say they weren't damaged at all, but their homes were not totally destroyed. They were just too afraid of what could happen next to stay in their homes. They would rather sleep in a brightly lit evacuation center with very little of their belongings then stay in their houses because just weren't sure.
And frankly, being here for a couple days I understand the sentiment in the sense that you never know. You start feeling the tremor, the aftershocks come on, and you say, well is this one going to be as big as the one that happened on Thursday or the earthquake that happened on Saturday? And if that is the case, do I want to put myself and my family in harm's way? And the answer for nearly everyone in this town and in this greater community is, no.
And so even tonight, some three days after Saturday's earthquake, the large majority of people are choosing to spend it either outside in their cars, or at evacuation shelters -- Kristie.
[08:05:21] LU STOUT: Matt Rivers reporting live for us from the quakes in there in southern Japan. Many thanks for that update, Matt.
Now, we're getting a clear picture of just how widespread the damage is after Saturday's earthquake in Ecuador. Now, we'll bring up some drone video. This video provides a bird's eye view of the damage. You have entire buildings, homes and businesses toppled by the force of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
Now joining us now for more on this is CNN's Boris Sanchez. He is just a few hundred kilometers away from the epicenter of this quake.
And Boris, even with urgent rescue work underway there, we've learned that the death toll is still steadily rising. What's the latest?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now that's right, Kristie. The death toll now sitting at 272 and it will continue to rise, that's what we've heard from Ecuadorian officials.
A big part of the problem, a big part the reason they can't put a number on it, is simply because there are too many areas, rural areas that were hardy hit by this earthquake that are simply inaccessible.
The biggest problem in Ecuador right now is the infrastructure. And you can see a great illustration of that behind me. We're in Guayaquil, and this is one of the busiest overpasses in the city, one of the biggest cities in Ecuador, and this just came down after the earthquake. It landed on a car. It killed a driver and left a passenger injured. And there are hundreds of roads just like this one all across the country.
Several weeks of pounding rain brought about by El Nino, weakened roads and this earthquake simply decimated them. So, it's very difficult to access some of the hardest hit portions of the country. Communication is also a very serious issue right now. We know that there are about 10,000 military officials that are working right now to dig through rubble and searching for survivors. There are also about 4,000 police officers alongside them. It's going to be a while before we get a clear picture of the full extent of the damage here. It may take days, potentially weeks, Kristie.
LU STOUT: And Boris, looking at the scene behind you, it raises questions about just how earthquake-proof is the infrastructure there in Ecuador and how prepared is Ecuador for an earthquake of this size, and also to respond to this disaster?
SANCHEZ: Yeah. It is certainly a staggering earthquake, not something that Ecuador isn't used to, though. In the same area, the same epicenter of this earthquake back from 1987, there was another earthquake, the deadliest in Ecuador's history. It was a 7.2 earthquake and it killed killed roughly 1,000 people. This was a 7.8. So you can imagine just how much bigger this earthquake was compared to that one.
Hopefully, of course, the extent of the damage is not as significant on this occasion.
LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Boris Sanchez reporting live for us from the quake center there in Ecuador. Thank you for that update.
Now, with the earthquakes in both Japan and Ecuador, some are asking if they're related. Now, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now for some answers. He joins us from CNN center. And, Chad, is there a link here between the quakes in Ecuador and Japan?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think they're too far apart, Kristie.
Honestly, you're a third of the world away, and Mark Sideman from Cal State, the technology there, this seismologist there, he just said, look, I can't tell you that a tree that falls down in Canada is going to bring down a cactus in Mexico either. That's how far apart they are, literally a world or half a world away.
Here's the Ecuador quake. There was just an aftershock in the Peru quake here, and another aftershock we just talked about live on TV that was about 25 minutes ago right there in the Japan quake.
So, let's put it all together. There's this Ring of Fire that we talk about where most of the earthquakes occur, most of the volcanoes are there as well. We should have 15 earthquakes, 7 to 8 -- 15 per year. So how many this year so far? Five. Five. One in Alaska. One in Russia. These are all on the edges of the tectonic plates and where they shake. And this is where we've had the shaking so far this year.
But you can't really say that one in Alaska, one in Russia, one in Indonesia, one in Japan, and one in Ecuado have anything to do with each other. They're just too far apart.
Now, are the aftershocks that you see here in Japan associated with the first or the second or the third quake? Yes, absolutely. Are the aftershocks here associated? Yes, yes. But you can't say that something from way over here can be associated with something in Chile.
Now, there was a report, and I just read it this morning, that since 2004, since the Banda Eceh quake here, the big quake that killed 250,000 people, there has been an uptick worldwide of big earthquakes. And you say, wait a minute, that's 12 years ago. But 12 years to a person is a long time, 12 years to a mosquito is a really long time, but 12 years to the Earth, billions of years old, is really not that long of a time period. So maybe the Earth is shaking more than we have been seeing maybe back in the '60s or '70s, but these two or three quakes, or these three quakes, not related -- Kristie.
[08:10:31] LU STOUT: You know, interesting digest here. So these two earthquakes, because of their distance, they are not related, they are not linked, even though they share the Ring of Fire.
But you're reporting since Banda Aceh, since the quake that triggered the tsunami in 2004, we've seen an uptick in earthquakes. Are we seeing an uptick in powerful these earthquakes, these magnitude 7.0 on up earthquakes? How often do these kind of powerful earthquakes take place?
MYERS: Yeah, really it was the story was about Haiti, obviously the big earthquake under Port-au-Prince and then the earthquake that caused the tsunami in Japan and then we've had earthquakes around the globe causing significant shaking.
So we should get eight -- one 8.0 or greater. And it seems like the frequency of the 9s, or the very strong earthquakes has been greater, but you know, this is a very small footprint. Man has only been on the Earth reporting for a very short amount of time where the Earth has been shaking for a billion years.
LU STOUT: We appreciate the perspective there, and also walking us through the science behind all this seismic activity. Thank you very much indeed. Chad Myers there reporting.
MYERS: Now, in the past few hours the U.S. Defense Secretary landed in Iraq on an unannounced visit. Now Ashton Carter is to hold a series of meetings with officials and military leaders. Their focus is the campaign against ISIS. Now, the U.S. intends to bring more resources into Iraq.
Now, Brazil's president is fighting for her political life. Now, the lower house has voted overwhelmingly to impeach Dilma Rousseff. Now, she's accused of manipulating government accounts to hide budget shortfalls, and the motion now heads over to the Senate.
Now, Shasta Darlington joins us now live from Brasilia. And Shasta, this is a huge blow for Dilma Rousseff, but walks us through the impeachment vote process. What happens next? How long is this going to take?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kristie. This is a blow that we really don't know whether or not she can recover from. Today we expect the -- for the president of the lower house of congress to send this impeachment motion on to the senate. There, a simple majority is needed to approve the motion to really launch the impeachment trial.
Now, if that happens, Dilma Rousseff would have to step down for 180days to defend herself in an impeachment trial. And looking at the calendar how this could play out that could happen as early as May. At that point, her vice president, Michel Tamas would step in on interim basis and he would preside over Brazil while she faces impeachment, something she says she's going to fight tooth and nail to the very end, Kristie.
LU STOUT: And remind us, why is Dilma Rousseff so unpopular?
DARLINGTON: Yeah. I mean, this has played out on the television screens here in Brazil and really on the global stage over the last few weeks. She is an incredibly unpopular leader, with an approval rating down near 10 percent largely because of the economic situation.
There has been a prolonged recession. We're in the second year. It could go into a third year. At the same time, her Worker's Party, many of the politicians there, have been engulfed in a massive corruption and bribery scandal.
While the president herself wasn't directly implicated she was the chairwoman of the state-run oil company Petrobras when much of the alleged corruption took place.
Now, the flip side of that is, of course, her supporters say that's fine and dandy, but she isn't implicated and many of the politicians here in congress right behind me, in fact over 50 percent of them, have been charged with an array of crimes from corruption and money laundering, and they're the ones who are voting to impeach her for breaking budgetary laws, Kristie.
And the timing of this. I mean, they're the ones wanting to impeach her for breaking budgetary laws -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: And the timing of this. I mean, what does this ongoing impeachment vote process, the growing political crisis in Brazil, mean for the upcoming Olympic games?
DARLINGTON: Well, there are two different ways to look at this, Krsitie. On the one hand, the Olympics games themselves are sort of on automatic pilot. They've been handed over to local organizing committee, the International Olympics Committee. 98 percent of venues are already handed over on track ready to be used.
Then there's the image. You know, when Brazil won their bid to host the Olympics back in 2009, they were seen as this emerging global power. Their economy was booming, and instead of showcasing all of this potential, the Olympic games are going to showcase just an unending string of problems.
We don't know who will be the president when the games kick off at that opening ceremony. We will likely see angry protests up until the day they start, although we have spoken to lawmakers on both sides who believe that the protests will actually die off once the games begin, because they are already so embarrassed by the situation that Brazil is in, that they shouldn't impede the games.
So, on the one hand, we expect the games to go ahead largely as expected with a few hiccups, but on the other hand they're not going to make Brazil look good. They're really showing off all of its flaws, Kristie.
[08:15:47] LU STOUT: That's right, especially as Dilma Rousseff fights for her political life.
Shasta Darlington reporting live from Brasilia for us. Thank you, Shasta.
Now, airline workers in Hong Kong, they are calling for chief executive CY Leung to step down. Hundreds of angry protesters flooded the international airport on Sunday. They claim that Leung abused his power and endangered flight safety in an incident involving his daughter last month.
Now protesters say that Leung pressured airport staff to retrieve his daughter's bag after she left it outside the restricted area. Leung insists he did not pressure airport officials, but acknowledges he spoke with airport staff over the matter.
Now, the government says it is investigating the incident.
Now, still ahead right here on News Stream, tricked, smuggled, threatened and then married off: now that is therrible reality for some young girls in Vietnam. A special report is straight ahead.
And only a matter of time? Well, CNN speaks to a North Korean official about the country's sweeping ambitions.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:20:37] LU STOUT: Now, imagine the absolute horror of waking up and not even knowing where you are only to discover that you've been smuggled abroad and sold as a bride. Now, tragically that is the fate of too many young girls from Vietnam who are tricked and then taken across the border by traffickers.
But as Alexandra Field discovered as part of CNN's Freedom Project, among the horror are tales of incredible heroism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crossing the border separating China and Vietnam can be as easy as this.
As soon as we reach the river, we see people paddling between the two countries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): They told us to start moving. They forced us into a car.
FIELD: A survivor of human trafficking tells us how quickly it happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): It was just me with six Chinese men. They called a lady to come and buy me.
FIELD (on camera): You were tricked into crossing the border into China?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): They not only tricked me, but so many others. I don't know how many people.
FIELD (voice-over): In the mountains of northern Vietnam, a group of women tell us, first, they were sold simple lies, then brought to China to be sold as brides.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): She said that her friend had asked us to come visit his house.
FIELD: "My friend came and said her boyfriend would come and wanted me to go out with them."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): When I woke up I didn't know I was in China.
FIELD: Dithong (ph) started the Pacific Link Foundation and says this is a prime hunting ground for those who form a pipeline to China.
(on camera): What's the going rate for a bride in China?
UNIDENTIFIED FOUNDER, PACIFIC LINK FOUNDATION: For the end buyer, we've been told that the prices have been $3,000.
FIELD (voice-over): Girls in Vietnam's ethnic minority groups are common targets. Dithong (ph) says that's because there are cultural similarities with Chinese men on the other side of the border who struggle to find Chinese wives.
UNIDENTIFIED FOUNDER, PACIFIC LINK FOUNDATION: You have the one-child policy that has favored sons in general, right? And over time, this has exacerbated in such a way that they need more and more women.
FIELD: We're not identifying the women we spoke to, to protect them from retaliation. They don't know how much money they were sold for, but they say they were forced into labor, threatened with work in brothels, and that their husbands got money-back guarantees.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): He said if I didn't agree to get married, they would beat me and kill me. I had to go.
FIELD: Today, she lives in a shelter with women who fought to find a way out, even at the cost of leaving children behind.
(on camera): What would you say to your daughter if you were able to say something?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I would apologize for leaving her there. I hope she'll have a better life there.
FIELD (voice-over): Her baby was 5 months old when she made a daring escape. After two years in China, she said she and another bride finally found an opportunity to take a taxi to a police station.
(on camera): What were you most afraid of in the time that you were being kept there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): That they would sell me to a brothel and I could never come home.
FIELD (voice-over): Those who did come home want to spread the word.
DIEP N. VUONG, PACIFIC LINK FOUNDATION: For us, the most important thing is to do this, to make sure that people don't cross the border.
(SHOUTING)
FIELD: The survivors return to the same places traffickers target to try to warn other unsuspecting girls.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: A harrowing report there by Alexandra Field.
And Alexandra joins us now with more on the story. And Alexandra, in your report we see the shelter which houses the women, the lucky ones who are survivors able to be saved, brought back from the traffickers, brought back from the men who had purchased them. Can you tell us more about this shelter? How long do they stay there? And what kind of support they get there?
FIELD: Well, these are young girls who tell us that the shelter is really the best place for them to be. And some of them will send a couple years there, two, three years. A lot of them are teenagers when they arrived there. This is really the only place where they can be with other women who like them, who have experienced what they've experienced, so they are getting the physical support that they need, they're getting some of the emotional support that they need. They're also learning some skills to help them build some kind of future.
But beyond it being the best place, a lot of them say this is actually the only place for them to go because of the shame that they feel when they return to their home country, to their village, to their families.
LU STOUT: So, this is one of the few outlets that they get for support there.
And then you have the other issue that was brought up in your report, that of community outreach, like getting the word out in this community, in this rural corner of Vietnam so that young women know about the dangers and they won't get tricked by human traffickers. Is word getting out?
FIELD: Well, look, it's a testament to their bravery that they're trying to get word out, especially when you consider the shame factor. So, when you see these young women, when you go to the market with them, when they return to their home villages determined to educate other young girls about the problems of traffics you know that there is a real effort to put the word out there, even if the word is spreading because the NGOs, because of the survivors, because of government efforts, it's still difficult for so many young women in these communities to actually recognize when they're being tricked, when they're being lured across the border, because these lies are so very simple, it's so easy to get these girls to come across sometimes quite willingly without knowing it.
LU STOUT: Yeah, and cracking down on the people who are tricking them, the human traffickers, the human smugglers. Is there enough of an effort at the border to monitor the activity and to make sure that this practice could somehow stop in some way?
FIELD: Right, that's the other part of it. How do you stop girls from actually being brought across the border?
And we did speak to local government officials. They say that 109 girls were returned from China to Vietnam last year,but the key really is stopping women from leaving Vietnam and going into China. So, they said that they have made increased efforts, like additional guards along the border, increasing foot patrols, but also educating border guards to recognize when women might be lured across the border, to recognize those telltale signs that they're with another adult, they might be with a group of young women, to really ask these guards to get out there and proactively look for women who are being carried across, especially in these very porous places where they can hope on a bike or get in a boat and, you know, within minutes be in China with no way of getting back.
LU STOUT: Yeah, this was a harrowing report, it was also a powerful one as well. So, thank you so much for your research, thank you for filing it and here's hoping it's going to lead to change. Alexandra Field there reporting for us.
Now, the earthquakes that hit southern Japan, they struck the heart of a major industry. And up next, we take a look at the impact on carmakers like Toyota and Honda.
And North Korea says international pressure only makes it work harder. It invites a CNN team into Pyongyang to show that North Korea is doing just fine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[08:30:24] LU STOUT: Now, the devastation is also hurting a key industry in Japan. CNN Money Asia-Pacific editor Andrew Stevens joins me from Tokyo live with the details. And Andrew, what impact are all of the quakes having on Japan Inc.?
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN MONEY: Well, Japan Inc. And in particular, Kristie, the Japanese automakers. This is one of the brightest spots in Japan's economy, not just locally, but also around the world. And the Japanese have really developed to a fine art this -- this strategy of delivering parts to the factories just enough so they can keep production going. They don't hold much back in reserve.
So when you get an earthquake, when you get a break in the supply chain, that rippling through the industry, none more so than the auto industry. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS: As the search for survivors of the two Kyushu earthquakes continues, corporate Japan is now counting the cost of the disaster. Quake damage, aftershocks and smashed roads, bridges and rail lines on the island have either stopped or severely cut industrial production.
Kyushu is known as car island -- Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Daihatsu between them produce about 1.5 million of the 9 million cars made in Japan each year and Honda's only motorcycle plant has stopped production.
The impact isn't just being felt in Kyushu, either. So many car part suppliers are based on the island, which means production is going to be hit right across Japan. Toyota is going to be forced to cut production across the country dramatically over the next week.
Toyota says that a majority of its car assembly plants in Japan will be shut down in stages over the next few days. The car companies CNN spoke to say it's too early to know how long these disruptions will last. And it's not just the automakers. Sony makes iPhone parts at a plant in Kyushu. And tourism is also booming in Kyushu as visitors flock to its natural and man-made wonders.
But attractions like the 400-year-old Kumamoto castle had been badly damaged by the quake.
ANDREW STAPLES, ECONOMIST COPORATE NETWORK: It's a significant economy.
STEVENS: Kyushu makes up almost 9 percent of Japan's economy. Experts say the quake comes at a bad time for Japan.